


Whoever Said Every Cloud Had a Silver Lining Obviously Never Endured Slavery

by AntagonizedPenguin



Series: How Best to Use a Sword [8]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Age Difference, Anal Sex, Collars, Consensual Threesomes, Frottage, Hand Jobs, M/M, Making Out, Masturbation, Nudity, Oral Sex, Sadness, Sex with Slaves, Slavery, Which Means Consent Can't be Had
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-15
Updated: 2018-05-20
Packaged: 2018-05-20 02:15:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 34
Words: 65,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5988648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AntagonizedPenguin/pseuds/AntagonizedPenguin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Daniel's a slave. He belongs to Theodore and that's all there is to it. </p><p>The more he reminds himself of that the easier it is to just be a slave and do as he's told. </p><p>It's not clear to him whether that's a good thing or not.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Rounding out the trifecta of 'fucked up stories about dangerous relationships' is one about sexual slavery! Yay! Sometimes I wonder where I went wrong in life (and then realize I didn't, haha).

“Do you know who I am?”

“Yes, Master.” 

“Who am I?”

“You’re my Master.” The Master hadn’t told Daniel yet that his name was Theodore, and even though Daniel knew anyway, he also knew better than to admit it. 

“Good. And who are you?”

“I am nobody, Master. I belong to you.” 

Theodore didn’t say anything for a second and Daniel worried that maybe he’d said the wrong thing. It was hard to interpret silence when he was looking at the floor. But after a second Theodore just made a ‘hmph’ sound. “They did train you well, didn’t they? Tell me, did they hurt you while they were training you?”

That was a strange question to ask a slave, Daniel thought. “Only when I deserved it, Master.”

“Did you deserve it often?”

“Yes, Master.” He’d gotten progressively better at not getting hit as time went on, though.

“What’s your name?”

“Whatever pleases you, Master.”

“It would please me to know what your parents named you.” Theodore’s voice had gotten little tighter and Daniel tensed. He hadn’t meant to make him mad already. 

“Daniel, Master.” Daniel said quickly. “My parents named me Daniel.”

“Nice to meet you, Daniel. My name is Theodore.”

“Yes, Master.” _You’re a slave._ Daniel kept reminding himself. _Just act like one and hope he doesn’t hurt you._

“Stand up.” Daniel did as he was told, swaying a little in the moving carriage they were in. He kept his eyes on the floor. Theodore ran a hand up Daniel’s arm and Daniel could practically feel the weight of his eyes inspecting him. Like all the slaves who’d been sold today, Daniel was naked except for his heavy iron collar. “You’re very pretty, Daniel.”

Daniel didn’t answer that. He’d been told that before, usually prefacing a lot of very blunt comments about what he could expect thanks to that. He was dark-haired and narrow through the shoulders and hips, but otherwise average in stature. As to his own looks, it had been a while since Daniel had seen himself in a mirror. 

“Except for this.” Theodore mused, his fingers touching on Daniel’s collar. Theodore’s hand moved around Daniel’s neck and a moment later there was a clicking sound and the weight was removed. “There we go.” Theodore tossed the collar aside. “I’ve a prettier one for you at home.” 

“Thank you, Master.”

Theodore made a noise and tilted Daniel’s head up to look at his face. Daniel carefully avoided eye contact. Theodore had very sharp features and long fingers, and the look on his face was gentle at the moment. He was a pretty man, Daniel thought. “Your eyes are beautiful.” Theodore muttered, brushing his fingers around one of them. “Where are your family from?”

“White Cape, Master.” It had been very convenient for them that slavery was legal in nearby Merket when they’d made the decision to sell their youngest son. 

“I see. I wondered if you were from the south, where green eyes are a little more common, but no. How very special you are.” The way he said that made Daniel shiver, though he tried to pretend it was because it was cold. “What possessed your parents to sell such a beautiful child?”

Once Daniel would have bristled at being called a child. It turned out that being beaten enough made it harder to care what people called him. “They had to pay off their debts, Master.” 

“Those must have been some debts if they resorted to selling something so precious.” Theodore mused, and Daniel didn’t answer. They’d sworn to him that it was only for a few weeks, and that they’d buy him back when they had the money, but even then Daniel had known that would never happen—even if they had somehow come up with the money, it would have gone to alcohol and gambling before it went to getting back a sixth mouth to feed and the child they’d never wanted in the first place. “Still, a boon for me.” Theodore continued. “Now I get to have you all for myself.”

Daniel didn’t answer that.

“You know what I want from you?” Theodore asked.

“No, Master.”

“Yes, you do.” Daniel did. “When they were training you, did they touch you?”

“No, Master.” That was one thing that they had never done—Daniel had been told more than once that he was worth more untouched. 

“Don’t pretend that you don’t know what I mean. I’m a very tolerant man, Daniel, but I won’t allow you to lie to me, do you understand?”

“Yes, Master, I understand. I know what you meant.” 

“Good.” Theodore pulled on Daniel’s arm, silently ordering him to turn around, and Daniel did, allowing Theodore to run his hands up Daniel’s back and legs now. “I’m a very wealthy person, Daniel. You’ll be fed, warm, safe and comfortable in my house.”

And all Theodore would take in exchange for all that was Daniel’s body and his freedom. “Thank you, Master.”

“I’ve had a lot of slaves, Daniel.” Theodore seemed to like using his name and Daniel wasn’t sure what to make of that. “I understand that you hate me, but…I think you’ll change your mind. You seem like a clever boy. I think you’ll quickly realize that any number of people would have been worse than me.” 

“Yes, Master.”

“Shh, you don’t need to do that.” Theodore turned him around again. “I know you can hear me. Come sit here.” He pulled Daniel onto the bench beside him and tilted Daniel’s head back up when he moved his eyes to the ground again. “There’s nothing interesting down there.” Daniel settled for looking at Theodore’s neck. 

“Is there any food that you like to eat, Daniel?”

Food? Daniel just barely resisted the frown that wanted to crease his face. “No, Master.”

Theodore’s hand tightened around his, not painfully, but as a reminder. “Remember what I said about lying to me, Daniel. What do you like to eat?”

Daniel hesitated for a second. He couldn’t shake the feeling that this was a trap of some kind. “Crab, Master. I…I like crab.” 

“Then we’ll have crab for supper tonight.” 

“Thank you, Master.” Daniel had had a lot of expectations about what being sold would be like, but he hadn’t thought Theodore would go out of his way to be kind. It felt like he was being set up somehow and that worried Daniel a lot more than being sold in the first place had. 

Suddenly Theodore was there, leaning in and kissing Daniel. Daniel stiffed and half-pulled away before remembering not to do that, but it was too late. Theodore moved away and was looking Daniel in the eye. “You tried to get away from me just now, didn’t you?”

“No, Master, I…” Daniel froze in fear, looking into Theodore’s dark eyes. He wasn’t supposed to lie. “Yes, Master. I’m sorry, I won’t do it again, I’m sorry.” 

Theodore held his gaze for a second before laughing quietly to himself. “It’s alright.” He patted Daniel on the cheek. “Now I know for sure you were telling me the truth, earlier. Don’t do it again.”

“I won’t, Master.”

“When I show you affection, I expect you to return it.” 

“Yes, Master.”

“You’re shaking—I didn’t mean to scare you.” Daniel didn’t answer that. “Don’t worry. I’ll give you some time to get used to the house before I take you into my bed.” Daniel wanted so badly to roll his eyes but knew better than to even think about it. How generous of Theodore that was. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Thank you, Master.” That was an outright lie, Daniel thought. Maybe Theodore wasn’t going to hurt him for fun or on purpose, but there was no way Daniel wasn’t going to be hurt. 

“Come, we’re here.” The carriage had stopped at some point. Daniel hadn’t noticed. Theodore turned his back and opened the carriage door, stepping out into a broad courtyard that had been cleared of snow.

Before he’d been sold, Daniel would have told Theodore to go kill himself, or jumped on him and bashed his head against the cobblestones, or at least sworn and called him names. He would have made Theodore drag him into that house screaming rather than going along placidly. 

Daniel couldn’t be that person any longer. Not if he wanted to survive this. 

“Yes, Master.”


	2. Attention to Detail is a Skill of Benefit to Slaves

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter introduces at least three subplots, hahahaha (I may be a little too ambitious).

“Daniel, come sit with me here.”

“Yes, Master.”

Theodore smiled as Daniel did as he was told and sat beside the man on the long sofa. It had too many cushions on it. “I don’t require you to ‘yes, Master’ every time I give you an order. Simply doing as you’re told is good enough.”

Daniel opened his mouth and snapped it shut again. And nodded. Theodore laughed and ruffled his hair. “You’re quite the charming young man.”

“Thank you, Master.” Theodore pulled Daniel closer until they were pressed against one another, and he kept his arm around Daniel’s middle. He was holding a paper in his other hand and went back to reading it. 

Daniel had been given a long white shirt that left his collar bare and just barely managed to cover his pelvic area. It was the only thing he was allowed to wear, and the other boys who Theodore kept as house slaves wore the same thing. It was pretty obvious what Theodore’s tastes were. What he hadn’t been given was a collar—apparently it was Theodore’s tradition to give his new slaves their collars on the first night he took them to bed.

True to his word, Theodore hadn’t touched Daniel sexually once since they’d come to the house. But he always seemed to want Daniel near—sitting beside him like this, eating with him, Theodore had even bathed him. It was not the experience Daniel had expected, but he knew better than to assume it would stay this way. 

Theodore would want to fuck him eventually. 

“What are you thinking about so hard?”

Daniel blinked, mentally shook himself out of whatever reverie he’d been in. “Nothing, Master.”

Theodore gave Daniel a light squeeze. “Don’t lie.”

“I…” Daniel looked down at his hands in his lap. “I was thinking about you, Master.”

“Of course you were.” The corners of Theodore’s mouth curled upwards. “Are you still afraid of me?”

“No…” _Don’t lie._ “Not as much, Master.” 

“Good.” Theodore’s hand patted Daniel’s middle. “And the other slaves? The household staff? They’re all treating you properly, I assume?”

“Yes, Master.” The staff—who were all paid servants, free people—mostly ignored Daniel and the other slaves aside from occasionally asking them to help with cleaning, cooking or something like that. The other slaves all just seemed to feel bad for Daniel and wouldn’t say why—though he could guess. 

“What do you think of the house?”

“It’s a very big house, Master.” It was—huge and every inch of it decorated in case anyone forgot for a second that Theodore was rich. There was art and statuary and fancy plants and fountains and pools and tapestries and gold everywhere.

“Yes, it’s a bit much, isn’t it? But it does impress my visitors.” 

“I should think so, Master.” 

“That almost sounded sarcastic, Daniel.”

“I…” It hadn’t been. “I’m sorry, Master. I didn’t mean…”

“Calm down, Daniel.” Theodore patted his head again. “I’m joking. Close your eyes.”

Daniel did, confused. Once Theodore was satisfied he had, he said, “What colour is my shirt?”

Trying not to frown, Daniel said, “Purple, Master.”

“Just purple?”

“The cuffs are black and the buttons are silver and you have a blue handkerchief tucked into your front pocket.” Daniel didn’t know if this was a test or a trap of some kind, or if Theodore was just having fun again. 

“Hm.” Theodore took his hand away from Daniel’s middle and started stroking his hair. “There’s a long table at the back wall of this room; you must have seen it when you came in. How many cups were on it?”

“Five, Master.” Four were on a platter with a pitcher of water at one end, and one decorative goblet was sitting in the centre of the table.

“How many arms does the chandelier have?”

“This room doesn’t have a chandelier.”

“If I were to tell you to go to the kitchen and get me something, how many times would you have to turn left between here and there?”

“Seven.” 

“Hm.” Theodore said again. “You can open your eyes now. You are a very, very observant boy, Daniel.” 

Daniel wasn’t sure if that was supposed to be good or not—maybe he wasn’t supposed to be paying that much attention to the details of the house. Daniel thought that paying attention to details was important if he was going to stay alive. He was saved having to say anything by a knock at the door. “Master Theodore.” Theodore’s head houseservant was named Benedict and was a little younger than Daniel’s father. “My apologies for intruding. Master Phillip is here to see you, sir.”

Theodore frowned. “Is he now? Bring him in.” Benedict left and Theodore glanced down at Daniel. “You aren’t dressed for company. Take that blanket there and cover yourself with it. Lay down with your head on my lap and pretend to be asleep.”

“Ye…” Daniel stopped himself and nodded, grabbing the blanket to do as he’d been told, thinking all the while that it would be easy enough for him to just leave if Theodore didn’t want people to see him dressed like this. And thinking that Theodore could let him have pants if he didn’t want people to see him dressed like this. 

A moment later there was another knock on the door and the sound of people coming in. “Theodore.”

“Shhh.” Theodore said to the man who’d spoken. He was playing with Daniel’s hair. “He’s very tired.”

“New addition?” The speaker must be Phillip, and Daniel could hear him shuffling a bit until he must have sat. Slaves weren’t supposed to listen when people were talking and Daniel tried not to, but it was a bit hard when they were right there. “Sorry to drop in unannounced.”

“Think nothing of it. What can I do for you today?” Theodore’s voice sounded smooth as usual, but Daniel thought he could hear a bit of something else there as well. He was probably annoyed. 

“I found the Crown.”

Theodore considered that for a second before answering. “Now how did you manage to do that?”

“You’re not the only one with sources. It’s on its way here right now and then we can use it to find the Sea King’s Palace.”

“We can?” Theodore asked, his hands pausing in Daniel’s hair. “I’m involved now, am I?”

“Sure, once they’re done building those ships of yours. You know how valuable this is.”

“I also know how dangerous it is.”

Phillip made a noise. “You’re scared of a legend?”

“Not at all.” Theodore said. “But a little more caution wouldn’t hurt.”

“Theodore, I can’t do this without you. I’m splitting the profit with you; you want me to beg too?”

Theodore was silent for what Daniel thought was a long time. “Fine.” He said, sounding like Daniel’s brothers had used to sound after he’d begged them to play with him all day. “But we’ll need to find someone to do the actual retrieval. Let me handle that part.”

“Fine.” Phillip’s clothes rustled as he stood. “Let me know when you’ve got someone. This is going to be the biggest find in history, Theodore.”

“I know. Thank you, Phillip.” 

Phillip didn’t answer and a moment later the door opened and closed again. “What do you think he’s going to do, Daniel?” Theodore resumed playing with Daniel’s hair, one hand on his shoulder to keep him laying down. 

“I…don’t know, Master.” Maybe Theodore was insane, Daniel thought. Maybe he didn’t actually understand how slavery worked. 

“But you just heard the entire conversation. You have an opinion, at least.” 

“It’s not my place to…”

“It is if I tell you it is.” Theodore said with a tug on Daniel’s hair. “I’m not going to punish you for speaking about my acquaintance and I’m not going to punish you if you’re wrong. Tell me what you think.”

“I think…” Daniel hesitated for a second. “He isn’t going to wait for you, Master.” Theodore didn’t say anything so Daniel felt like he should go on. “I think…he said he couldn’t do it without you so I think he’ll try. But…he seems impatient to me, Master.”

“He is.” Theodore sighed. “He’s a good friend, though. I expect you’ll see him around the house quite a bit.” Daniel nodded. “Are you comfortable down there?”

“Yes, Master.” Daniel said automatically. This wasn’t any more or less comfortable than laying anywhere else. Laying in someone’s lap was a lot less weird than he’d expected it to be. 

“Good. Stay there for a while. Try to sleep for real. I hear you toss and turn a lot at night.”

“I…I didn’t mean to bother anyone, Master.” It was good to know that the other slaves were reporting on his movements, though. 

“You haven’t, don’t worry. Just have a little nap.”

“Yes, Master.” Daniel was pretty sure he couldn’t sleep like this, but he closed his eyes and pretended as best he could. 

Despite his own prediction, though, eventually Daniel did fall asleep, with Theodore’s hand running through his hair.


	3. A Clever Slave Owner Will Grant His Slaves a Small Measure of Freedom to Keep them Calm

“It’s fake, you know.” 

Daniel looked up from the cards in his hand at the slave who had spoken, a squarish boy named Marcus who was a few years older than him. “Sorry?”

The slaves, all eight of them, shared a room on the main floor of Theodore’s mansion where they slept on bedrolls and kept their clothes, along with whatever possessions Theodore had given to them. It was the one space in the house, said Theodore, that belonged solely to them. Theodore didn’t come near the room and neither did the staff unless one of the slaves had been summoned, and then they would knock on the door. 

Maybe it was supposed to be generous—a space where they didn’t have any expectations—but Daniel thought that having one small space where they were allowed to do as they wished just accentuated the fact that they weren’t free anywhere else. 

“I said it’s fake. Him. The Master.” 

“Marcus, don’t.” Hugh was also older than Daniel—Daniel was the youngest slave here—but he was small and sprightly. He was playing cards with Daniel, a trump game that Daniel was really bad at. They also played stones sometimes, but Daniel was pretty good at that, which was probably why most of the others had taken to playing cards with him instead. 

“He has the right to know, Hugh.” The other slaves were all pretty nice—Daniel felt bad for assuming they wouldn’t be—because of course they’d all been in the same boat as he was once. The older ones didn’t talk to Daniel too much, but Marcus was the only one who was really colder than the others. 

“No he doesn’t.” Hugh countered. “Slaves don’t have rights.” 

“Cute.” Marcus turned back to Daniel, who was just looking between the two of them. “It’s fake. He’s being nice to you. Asking you how you’re feeling, feeding you things that you like, always wanting you to sit with him and be near him. It’s all fake, Daniel.” 

“Marcus…”

“I know.” Daniel said, selecting a card to play after careful deliberation. Hugh played another card and took it. 

“You don’t, though. He does that to all of us—makes you feel special and everything. He’ll do it for a while, maybe a few months. Then he’ll stop, and you’ll remember that you’re just his property and he doesn’t care about you any more than he cares about his dinner plates.” 

Daniel smiled, but without humour. “If he cared about us,” he said, playing his last card and watching in vague confusion as he lost the hand, “there wouldn’t be eight of us.” It was pretty obvious that Theodore was ignoring the other slaves in favour of Daniel, which made it pretty obvious that someday he would ignore Daniel in favour of someone else. 

Marcus got really quiet at that and Daniel looked up to see him glowering at the floor. “Just trying to warn you.” He muttered. “It’s real easy to get caught up in it. In how he makes you feel. But if you do, it’ll hurt when he stops caring.” 

Daniel wondered how long ago Theodore had stopped caring about Marcus. 

“Thank you, Marcus. For telling me that. I appreciate it.”

Marcus just made an agitated noise and motioned for Hugh to deal him a hand as well. 

“Did they hit you a lot?” Marcus asked as Hugh dealt the cards. “Before they sold you to the Master, I mean?”

Daniel nodded. “I wasn’t very good at doing what I was told.” 

“I thought they must have.” Hugh finished dealing and they picked up their cards. Daniel thought his looked good, but he’d thought that before. “You seem younger than I was when I was sold, but you talk like you’ve been a slave for a while. How long did they have you before the Master bought you?”

“Two months.” Daniel lied, playing a card. “Though I stopped counting after…” After he’d found the courage to stop pretending that his parents were coming back for him. He’d always known they weren’t. “After a while.” 

“Two months?” Hugh asked, winning another trick. “That’s a long time. I think there was only...maybe two or three weeks between when my aunt sold me and when the Master bought me.” 

“Is it a long time? I didn’t know.” Nobody had told Daniel what the normal waiting period was between being sold and being bought. He knew that he couldn’t say two years, but two months had seemed reasonable to him. 

“They don’t keep boys very long.” Marcus agreed. “People either want to fuck us or put us to work somewhere and either way we get bought pretty quickly.” 

“Maybe you just got taken at a weird time.” Hugh muttered, narrowing his eyes as he lost the hand to Marcus and gathering the cards to shuffle before passing them off to Daniel to deal. 

Daniel passed out the cards clumsily, not really able to comment much further on the timing of his own captivity. “Nobody is this bad at cards.” Marcus declared. “I think you’re pretending to be bad.”

Daniel snorted. “You think I’m making an effort to _not_ win? If I were that good I’d have found a way to cheat or something.” 

Marcus just looked at Daniel for a second before cracking a wide smile. “That’s the first time I’ve heard you talk like a person. I wasn’t sure if you knew how.” 

Daniel shrugged. “I did used to be one of those once.” 

A knock at the door halted their conversation. “Daniel.” Benedict’s voice said clearly through the thin door. Out of the corner of his eye Daniel saw Marcus’s face fall a little in disappointment. “Master Theodore requests your presence in the sunroom.” 

With a quick look at the other two Daniel got up, passing the cards off to Marcus and straightening out his shirt as he opened the door. 

He could have sworn he saw Marcus mouth the word ‘careful’ as he shut the door behind him and hurried off to attend the Master.


	4. It Doesn't Have to be Painful for it to be Terrible and Wrong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which sex of the very wrong variety occurs. Basically all sex in this story will be of the very wrong variety, since Daniel can't meaningfully consent to anything.

The knock at the door to the slaves’ little room came after dinner, when they were all just about ready to put out the lantern and to go sleep. “Daniel.” Benedict’s voice said clearly. “The master requests your presence in his bedchamber.” 

Nobody had really been talking, but the room fell oppressively silent at that comment, and seven sets of eyes turned to Daniel as if curious what he would do. 

Daniel closed his eyes and took a breath, standing from his bedroll and wiping imaginary creases out of his shirt before crossing to the door. Hugh grabbed his arm on the way by. “It’s okay, Daniel. I know it’s scary but he really tries hard to make it not hurt, I promise.”

“He’s right, it’s really not as bad as you think.” Marcus put in from behind Daniel. “Just do what he says and you’ll be fine.” 

“Thanks, guys.” Daniel pulled the door open and stepped out into the hallway. 

Benedict was standing there waiting for him. “He asked that I escort you.” 

Daniel nodded. “Thank you.” He wondered if Benedict had an opinion about what went on in the Master’s bedchamber. Did he care? Was it something he put up with because he worked here, or something he genuinely didn’t have a problem with?

Of course, Daniel reminded himself as they walked, Benedict’s shoes clicking on the floor, there was no reason to care about what a man did with his personal property. If Daniel were free he would be protected by laws and the judgement of society. But he wasn’t, and what happened to a slave didn’t matter to anyone except his owner. 

He knew the way to Theodore’s bedchamber, but he let Benedict lead him there, up the stairs and through the hallways of the house. It seemed to take much less time than it should have, and then they were standing outside the large double doors on the third floor. Benedict knocked on them. “Master.” He said. “I’ve brought Daniel.”

“Come in, Daniel.” The Master’s voice was clear and easy to hear through the door, which Daniel realized was ajar. Daniel stepped forward and pushed it open, slipping into the room. “Goodnight, Benedict.” Theodore said as he did. “Thank you.”

“Goodnight, sir.” Daniel left the door ajar as it had been, but Benedict closed it, leaving him alone with the Master. Daniel couldn’t hear his footsteps recede. 

The bedchamber was as ornate as the rest of the house, with a massive bed in the centre of the room and several couches and chairs all around. There were doors leading into other rooms, a window on one wall and a glass door leading to a balcony on another. Theodore sat at a low table not far from the door Daniel had come in. “Good evening, Daniel.”

“Good evening, Master.”

“I have something for you. Take off your shirt, will you?”

Daniel nodded and did as he was told, aware that Theodore was watching him for any hesitation. There was a little hook by the door that Theodore pointed at, and he hung the shirt there. Enough time in the slave pens had left him unselfconscious about being nude, but the way the Master was looking at him made Daniel want to cover himself. He didn’t, though. 

Theodore stood and beckoned Daniel to follow him to the dresser, beside which stood a large mirror. The room was warm from the fire burning in the huge fireplace nearby. Daniel went over and Theodore took a gilded little box from the dresser and stood Daniel in front of the mirror. “Close your eyes.” 

Daniel did, listening to Theodore open the box and feeling the weight of metal around his neck. It wasn’t as heavy as he’d thought it might be. It felt like a chain rather than a collar. “There, now look.” 

Opening his eyes, Daniel couldn’t help but have his gaze travel immediately to his neck, where he now wore, as he’d thought, a chain the width of two fingers. The links were all gold and in the centre was a gemstone the colour of moss. “It took longer than I expected. I wanted a stone that would match your eyes.”

“Thank you, Master.” Daniel said. The other slaves all had gold collars similar to this, so he wasn’t entirely surprised. Marcus’ had a dark red stone and Hugh’s was the colour of the sky. 

Theodore played with Daniel’s hair and watched their reflections in the mirror. “When you come into this room, for any reason, this is how I expect you to be dressed. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Master.”

“I would have you like this all the time, Daniel.” Theodore said, and it sounded like he were admitting something. “But I’m a selfish man and I can’t stand the idea of my staff ogling you. That’s the only reason I require you all to be dressed in the house.”

‘Dressed’ was a strong term for the long shirt he made all the slaves wear, but obviously Daniel wasn’t going to say anything about that. 

“Do you know what I want from you?”

Daniel nodded, telling himself that his reflection in the mirror didn’t look afraid. “Yes, Master.”

“Are you nervous?” 

_Don’t lie._ “A little, Master.” 

“Don’t be.” Theodore smiled, started running his hands down Daniel’s body gently. They stopped, though, at Daniel’s waist. Theodore cupped Daniel’s backside in on hand and held his balls, played with his penis in the other, until Daniel was standing in front of the mirror hard, flushed in the face and trying not to squirm. “Now, this is how I really like you. If it were possible, I would have you like this all the time.”

Theodore kept fondling Daniel, watching Daniel’s face in the mirror as he did. Daniel watched his face as well, trying to keep it neutral and flat, and ultimately failing as the Master’s gentle touching became a firmer stroke. Daniel hadn’t touched himself since he’d come to the house and in a short time his face was contorted and scrunched up, flushed bright red down to his shoulders. 

Theodore pulled his hand away suddenly and Daniel embarrassed himself a little with a small intake of breath as he lost the sensation. _You’re past embarrassment._ Daniel told himself. 

“Beautiful.” Theodore muttered, leaning down at kissing Daniel’s neck before turning him around, breaking Daniel’s gaze with his reflection. “I’ve been waiting for this since I saw you, Daniel. Undress me.”

Daniel nodded. Theodore was wearing a nightcoat and he reached out to untie the belt, opening the front. The Master’s chest was bare under the coat and it slid off his arms at a gentle pull. Daniel had to get in closer to unlace the breeches Theodore had worn today, but after a minute those too came down, and again careful not to visibly hesitate, Daniel reached forward and slowly pushed Theodore’s smallclothes down until they as well were on the floor. 

Theodore was hard and it was right in Daniel’s face, Daniel’s breath hitting the Master with every exhale. “Next time, perhaps, I’ll have you use your mouth.” Theodore said, his voice a little tight. “Perhaps even later tonight. But not yet. Turn back around, look at the mirror. I want you to finish what I started.”

Daniel nodded and did as he was told, hands shaking just a little as he reached up to grab himself, watching his reflection touch itself almost as though the boy in the mirror were a different person. Theodore put his hands on Daniel’s shoulders, pressed against Daniel’s back, his hardness resting in Daniel’s crack and on his lower spine. 

It was a very short time before, his entire body quivering, he came with a voiceless cry, splattering is hand and belly. Some of it hit the mirror as well. As he did, Theodore tensed behind him and came up Daniel’s back, his grip on Daniel’s shoulders tightening as he did. 

Theodore was holding Daniel up and for a second both of them stood there panting and looking in in the mirror. “That was wonderful, Daniel. You have no idea…” Theodore paused to compose himself, kissed the rim of Daniel’s ear. “Go lay on the bed on your back.”

“Yes, Master.” Daniel said quietly, going to do as he was told on unsteady legs, catching his breath as he did. His belly and back were sticky and wet and Daniel felt dirty in a way he never had when he’d touched himself before. He tried to pretend that wasn’t the case as he climbed into the bed and lay down to wait for the Master. 

Theodore moved around the room for a minute and Daniel tried not to watch him, but soon enough he was kneeling on the bed beside Daniel with a bottle of oil. “Spread your legs for me, Daniel.” 

Daniel did, and Theodore oiled up his fingers to start preparing Daniel. He tried not to squirm as Theodore’s finger slid inside him, tried to relax and let it happen. _He tries hard not to make it hurt,_ Hugh had told him. It seemed he hadn’t been lying; Theodore was going very slowly. _Just do what he says and you’ll be fine._

“You’ll tell me if it hurts too much.” Theodore said softly, sliding his finger in and out. “It’s going to hurt a little, but if it hurts a lot you will tell me, Daniel.” 

Daniel nodded, though he wouldn’t. 

The second finger stung but it passed pretty quickly. The third, when Theodore added it later, hurt a little more and didn’t pass quite so fast. Daniel couldn’t have said how long he lay there on the bed with Theodore’s fingers inside of him, but by the time Theodore took them out he was a sweaty, panting mess. 

“Did you like that?” Theodore asked, and Daniel nodded in complete honesty because he was too gone to care. “Good. You know what I’m going to do now?” Daniel nodded again. 

The Master spread Daniel’s legs further and Daniel felt something in the spot where Theodore’s fingers had just been. When Theodore pushed it in Daniel let out a little noise, the latest in a string of many he hadn’t meant to make, and Theodore brushed the hair out of his eyes as he slowly moved inside. 

Like the fingers, this stung at first, and wasn’t quite to recede. Theodore didn’t push all the way in at first, gently thrusting in and out, going farther every time. Daniel was painfully hard but didn’t dare try to do anything about it and fisted the sheets to stop himself. He squeezed his eyes shut and Theodore stopped, leaned down into Daniel’s face. “Keep them open, Daniel. I want you to watch me.” 

“Ye…yes…” Daniel couldn’t make the words form and opened his eyes with difficulty, watching Theodore, who watched him back. He made eye contact with the Master for the first time since they’d met as Theodore sank into him fully. 

The gentleness with which Theodore fucked him surprised Daniel even after everything else. He’d been expecting roughness, pain, for Theodore to treat him like a thing and not concern himself with Daniel’s experience. That was what people did with their slaves. But Theodore didn’t. He was slow, and gentle and soft and he lightly ran his fingers down Daniel’s chest and across his face. The tenderness of it threatened to bring tears to Daniel’s eyes, and when Daniel came, the look on Theodore’s face told him he wasn’t the only one who was surprised.

Theodore came shortly after, shooting inside Daniel, and Daniel couldn’t help but smile at the face he made as he did it. He held there for nearly a minute before pulling out, sitting up and pulling Daniel onto his lap, hugging him sideways. Daniel reached up and held Theodore’s arms, leaned his head against Theodore’s chest. _When I show you affection I expect you to return it._

“That was amazing, Daniel. You did a very good job.”

“Thank you, Master.” 

“I know you’re tired, but you need a bath before you sleep. Come with me.”

Daniel nodded and moved to slide off Theodore’s lap, but Theodore stood and lifted Daniel in his arms like a small child, carried him through one of the doors, where there was a bath already prepared. 

Daniel didn’t remember much of the bath except that Theodore washed him carefully and gently before carrying him back to the bed and laying Daniel on the other side from where they’d just been. The bed was so big there was room for both of them there without even getting near the part they’d messed up. 

Theodore laid Daniel on his side and slid in behind him, arms circling Daniel tightly as if protecting him. “Goodnight, Daniel.” 

“Goodnight, Master.” 

He was tired, but Daniel didn’t fall asleep right away. Feeling small but also safe in a way he knew wasn’t real, he tried to come back from what had just happened and think the way he was supposed to think again. Just because it hadn’t hurt didn’t mean it was okay. Theodore was still a bad man. He knew those things but had to remind himself of them, just in case he forgot. There was only one way for him to get out of this alive and it wasn’t by laying here and letting Theodore trick him into thinking he was cared for. 

But this was an opportunity, he knew. They would do this again, that was certain, and they were alone in this room. It was soundproof and had more than one exit. It wasn’t heavy, but Daniel could feel the weight of the collar on his neck and he wanted it off.

And he knew the only way for him to be rid of it was to kill Theodore.


	5. Rationality and Emotion Need Not Be at War, but often Are

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops. I have an updating schedule that works with what I have in mind for the chronology of the overall series, (I make it sound fancy, but I just post the chapters in the order that they happen). I did not realize that left this story with no update for three months. I will attempt to avoid that in the future. 
> 
> It was a year ago today that I posted the first chapter of this series (!!!). I noticed this only a few days ago and if I'd been looking at the calendar earlier I'd have tried to plan like a mega-update of all the stories or something, but oh well. Instead I present you all with some Daniel and Theodore. And thanks everyone for sticking with me all this time. :)

Daniel watched little soap bubbles float across the surface of the water in Theodore’s bathtub, idly wishing that he could just spend all of his time in the water. It would be the perfect solution—Theodore liked Daniel to be clean and Daniel always felt dirty no matter how long he’d been in the bath. If he could stay in here all the time maybe they’d both be happy.

Daniel’s happiness wasn’t relevant, though. He sighed and, recognizing that he’d been in long enough and that Theodore would chastise him if he let his skin prune, stood and climbed out of the water. He always put a towel down on the floor to drip water onto so he didn’t make a mess, which Theodore had told him was very considerate. Another towel sat on a bench nearby, and Daniel used this to dry himself off. When he was done, he took both towels to the chute in the wall of Theodore’s bedroom, where he threw his dirty laundry so it could be washed by one of the servants. 

All of this he did without paying much attention. When Theodore wasn’t here Daniel bathed two or three times a day, and he’d been locked in Theodore’s rooms for what he’d counted as two full weeks now. He’d established a certain mindless routine about some things. 

To be fair, Theodore didn’t actually lock the door. He’d just told Daniel after the first night that he expected Daniel to stay in the room until he was dismissed, and that he was free to make use of anything in the bedroom and bathing chamber while he was there. There was also a private study, which Daniel was only allowed in when Theodore was there. That door also wasn’t locked.

Theodore placed a lot of trust in a slave he didn’t really know. Hopefully that would make killing him a little easier. 

Daniel had explored the room as much as he was able without risking any sort of suspicion from Theodore, opening all the drawers—except the two that were locked, on Theodore’s bedside table—and carefully inspecting contents, looking under and behind everything for anything hidden, figuring out how many steps from the door to the bed, to the fireplace, to the dresser, to the bathing chamber, to the window, to the balcony, to the sitting area, to the study.

He’d noted all the room’s exits, and that while both the balcony doors and window were locked, it was with simple latches that he could undo even in the dark. There was a little window that he’d noticed in the study, but he’d had no way to inspect it at all. There were some trees in what Daniel thought was a reachable distance from both the window and the balcony. He also thought he could fit down the laundry chute if he had to, but that wasn’t ideal—the risk that he could get stuck was there, and so was the risk that he could be seen if he went down to the laundry room in the cellar. 

There were some ornamental candlesticks in the room, some gold chains that he didn’t trust not to snap under pressure, a letter opener in the study that probably wasn’t sharp enough to stab someone with, and a poker for the fireplace, which Daniel didn’t really have the strength to swing hard enough with. He’d tried. 

Maybe Theodore wasn’t as trusting as he seemed, Daniel thought. He was going to need to acquire a weapon from somewhere else in the house—once he could leave the room—and smuggle it in here somehow. In nothing but a white linen shirt that he had to take off as soon as he stepped in the door.

He could always sit on Theodore’s chest and smother him with a pillow in his sleep, but again Daniel wasn’t sure enough of his strength and if Theodore overpowered him, that would be the end of everything. 

Good thing he hadn’t expected this to be easy. 

He was walking through the room measuring everything again—another routine—when the door clicked open. Daniel looked up at Theodore, smiling an empty little smile that he mentally recoiled from. Humans weren’t made to be alone and he knew he was being trained to be happy when Theodore came into a room. As much as Daniel hated it, he didn’t have any choice but to let it happen for now. Theodore smiled back at Daniel. He was holding a sheaf of papers. “Hello, Daniel.”

“Good afternoon, Master.” Daniel said, crossing the room to stand in front of Theodore.

Theodore leaned down and gave Daniel a soft kiss on the forehead. “Your hair is damp.” He said, patting Daniel’s head. “Were you in the bath?”

“Yes, Master.” Daniel said, nodding a little.

“Good. I have some work to do in the study. Come with me.” Daniel nodded again and followed after Theodore obediently. The study wasn’t quite as opulent as the rest of the house and looked like what Daniel thought a study should look like. There was a large desk in one corner and most of the walls were dominated by tall bookshelves. There were two tables pushed together opposite the desk, where Theodore had several maps laid out, which he would occasionally spend hours studying. 

Today he sat on the tall-backed chair behind the desk and gestured for Daniel to sit on his lap. “You must be very bored when I’m not here with you, Daniel.” Theodore said as Daniel sat. 

“Yes, Master.” Daniel rested his head on Theodore’s chest. That wasn’t a lie—aside from measure the room over and over and come up with scenarios he couldn’t live out without a real weapon, there was nothing for Daniel to do. At least outside of this room he’d had the other slaves to talk to, or sometimes would be assigned tasks by the servants. Here he just spent all of his time thinking. 

“What do you do all day?”

“I think a lot, Master.”

“Oh?” Something about that seemed to amuse Theodore. He reached down at started to gently fondle Daniel, though he was still looking down at his papers. “What do you think about?”

Aside from shifting a little bit, Daniel didn’t react to the touch. Theodore had used his body in every way it was possible to use a person’s body in the last two weeks. Daniel wasn’t even sore anymore, and any potential embarrassment he might have felt was hidden in the back of his mind where even he couldn’t find it. Without ever saying a word on the matter, Theodore had made it very clear that Daniel was property, a thing for him to use as he liked, and nothing else. 

“You, Master.” Daniel was getting hard under Theodore’s hand, and he started to squirm just a little more because he knew Theodore would want him to. _Be what he wants you to be. Give him no reason to think of you as anything other than his toy._

Theodore’s eyes flicked to him for a moment and he smiled. Daniel smiled back. It was true, after a fashion. Theodore was definitely a main player in most of his thoughts, even if he was at the receiving end of various tools of murder.

“As happy as that does make me,” Theodore said, “I think it’s time I had you rejoin the rest of the house, before people start to think I’ve done something terrible to you.”

Daniel must have tensed or made a face, because Theodore gave him what was probably supposed to be a reassuring pat on the thigh before resuming his fondling. “Don’t worry, we’ll still see each other often. I’ll still call for you most nights, and I’ll have you attend me during the day, like before. But I do think it’s time I share you with the rest of the world again, no matter how much I may wish not to.”

“Thank you, Master.” Daniel kept his tone neutral. He was quietly considering the best ways of getting a weapon in here undetected. 

Theodore smiled again, but it quickly turned into a frown that was directed at his paper. “Daniel, go into the other room and get me the small book that says ‘expenses.’ It’s on the table by the fireplace.” 

“Yes, Master.” Daniel slid down from Theodore’s lap, trying to project a mild reluctance to move away from Theodore’s hand, and trotted out into the main room. He could feel Theodore’s eyes on him as he went. 

There were two small books on the table by the fireplace, and Daniel frowned down at them for a moment as if he might intuit which one Theodore wanted. One had a red cover and one a blue cover. Both books had words written on the front of them, but they may as well have been blank for all that that had helped Daniel. He felt himself starting to go soft and reached down, stroked himself until he was hard again. Not wanting to give the Master cause to be annoyed with him, he didn’t dawdle and just took both books, trotting back into the study with one in either hand. 

Theodore looked up at him, blinked at the two books and reached out for the blue one, indicating for Daniel to set the other on the desk. Feeling oddly small, Daniel sat back on Theodore’s lap as Theodore opened the blue book and started looking for something. “I didn’t realize you couldn’t read.” He said quietly after a moment. 

Daniel was looking down at his hands in his lap. “I’m sorry, Master.” 

“It’s no fault of yours, Daniel.” Theodore reached up and patted his head. “I’d assumed you never touched the books because you weren’t interested. I shall teach you.” 

“Master?”

“Don’t sound so surprised. I care very much about your well-being, and knowing how to read is an important skill for a person to have. Starting tomorrow, every day after lunch you’ll sit down in here with me and I shall teach you letters.” 

Surely, Daniel thought, Theodore must have people who could do that for him. With his riches it wouldn’t be that much of a financial strain to hire a tutor. He could have even told one of the other slaves to teach Daniel. Why in the world he want to waste time doing that himself? “Thank you, Master. I…thank you.” Daniel squinted, trying to force away the tears that had collected in the corners of his eyes. 

Daniel had always wanted to learn how to read. His parents had both been illiterate as well, and he’d been beaten the first time he’d told his father that he wanted to learn. And then later, after he’d been sold and when he’d been learning all kinds of things that he would need to know, how to pay attention, to find and exploit weaknesses, he’d asked again and had been told that of the skills he was going to need, letters weren’t one of them. 

What kind of man wasted time teaching his property to read? People to whom he’d been important didn’t care, and all Theodore wanted him for was to warm his bed at night. Why…

“You seem upset.”

“I’m…” Daniel sniffed, unsure how to say what he was without lying. “I’m very happy, Master. That’s all.”

“I’m glad.” Theodore said softly. “I think you’ll take to it very quickly, Daniel. And once you can read, you’ll find that the world is just a little bit bigger.”

Daniel nodded. He hoped so. “Thank you, Master.” He hoped he took to it quickly. Because otherwise he might end up killing Theodore before he was finished. Everything he’d picked up in the house suggested that Theodore got bored with his slaves after a couple of months. No matter what the circumstances, he couldn’t let the small window of opportunity he had pass by. 

No matter how big the world got, Daniel wouldn’t get to see any of it chained up here in Theodore’s house.


	6. There are Few Things in the World so Destructive to Human Motivation as Kindness

There was a second uniform that Theodore’s slaves were sometimes made to wear. When Theodore had company, they changed out of their shirts and into more modest dress; a long shirt that buttoned all the way up to the chin and down to the waist, heavy pants that laced up tightly in the front, a full set of underclothes that prevented the outerwear from accurately representing the shape of their bodies, and slippers that came up past the ankles. No skin was showing aside from their heads and hands once they were dressed, and the fabric was scratchy in places. 

“Don’t worry.” Hugh said as he did up the last of Daniel’s buttons for him. He could breathe just fine, but they were tight enough to give the impression that he couldn’t. Daniel was trying not to fidget and it wasn’t working. “You won’t ever wear it long enough to get used to it.” 

“I’m not sure that’s comforting.” Daniel muttered. 

“It will be after an hour or so, trust me.” Hugh smiled, and Daniel had to smile as well. “He doesn’t have us wear them very often. Most of the time the staff do the serving. It’s only on special occasions when he wants us to be visible for his guests.” 

“He’d rather nobody could see us but him.” Daniel said vaguely, remembering what Theodore had said to him when they’d been in the room together.

“Yeah.” Hugh smiled sadly. “He tells that to all of us.” Hugh often did that—he occasionally tried to gently remind Daniel that for Theodore, nothing about what was happening was new. Daniel knew that. He just nodded. 

Near them, Marcus made a little noise and, brushing past Daniel, left the little room for the banquet hall, where they’d been ordered to wait on the Master and his friends for the evening. 

“He hates me.” Daniel observed as he put his feet into the slippers. Marcus hadn’t spoken to Daniel since he’d come back from being in Theodore’s rooms.

“No.” Hugh disagreed, doing up the last of his own buttons and stepping into slippers as well. “He’s just upset. He’ll be okay.”

“He’s in love with him. The Master.”

“It’s hard not to be.” Hugh said quietly, moving to the door. Daniel followed. “And when he replaces you, it’s…”

“It’s hard not to blame the replacement.” 

“Yeah.” Hugh pushed open the door. “He’ll get over it. The rest of us did.” 

“If you’re sure.” Daniel wasn’t so sure—the look in Marcus’s eyes since Daniel had returned was one of pure hurt. But he knew he couldn’t help Marcus, it was too late for that. 

Slaves weren’t supposed to talk unless spoken to, so they didn’t on the way to the banquet hall. The oaken doors to the hall had carved upon them religious icons of saints and angels fighting back demons, with an ornate hand on the archway representing God. They were thrown open, displaying the room beyond. 

_You should be sending angels after people like Theodore._ Daniel thought, glancing up at the hand and touching his forehead as he passed under the archway. 

God didn’t see fit to acknowledge Daniel’s assessment of his job performance. 

The hall was big enough to hold several tables, which stood to reason, Daniel supposed, as otherwise it would hardly be useful for holding banquets in. There was only one table set out today, though, a circular table of some dark wood that had been so heavily lacquered and polished that it shone in a way that wood wasn’t supposed to. There was sunlight coming in through the tall windows on the north wall and would be for some time. For a while the lengthening days had been the only indication that spring had come, but now most of the snow was melted outside. The room was ringed with elaborate statuary of people in benedictory poses. Daniel assumed they were supposed to be saints, but he didn’t know for sure. 

There were chairs set out for seven, and Daniel and Hugh were the last to arrive. Benedict set them immediately at setting the table, and Daniel pretended as he put the dishes in place that he was only watching Hugh to know where they went. 

He was careful, very careful, not to pay any particular attention to the knives as he laid them out, but Daniel thought as he did that he could probably slip something into this outfit much more easily than the other one. Not here, it would be too obvious if a knife were to go missing from the table with so few place settings. But later, some other time. Maybe after supper if they were tasked with cleaning up. That still left the problem of getting the knife into Theodore’s room undetected, though.

He left off for now, and Benedict directed them to stand away from the table, and only come forward if the person in the chair they were assigned needed something refilled. Marcus was told to stand at the door. Daniel didn’t think anything of the fact that he was the only one who was told to stand in a particular place, in front of a particular statue, tallying it up to his being new and Theodore wanting him at his own chair specifically. 

It was only when he approached the place where he was supposed to be standing that he started to wonder if he’d been told to stand there on purpose. The statues all had words carved into their bases, and though that meant little to Daniel for the most part, he still looked at them because he was still trying to remember all the letters. He nearly stopped walking when he realized there was one word carved into the statue he’d been sent to that he recognized.

_Daniel._

His breath caught in his throat when he recognized his name. Theodore had, as he’d said, been teaching him letters every day, and he’d started with those letters, and that word. It was the only word Daniel knew at the moment, but…he’d seen it. He’d seen it written somewhere and recognized it. _Read_ it. It was only one word, but for just a moment Daniel was struck by the pure fact that _he could read it._

Daniel tried not to get too tripped up over it, lest someone notice, but he did glance up at the statue that bore his name as he moved into position. This person must have been named Daniel, he figured. Saint Daniel was holding a torch in one hand and covering his eyes with the other, even as his head tilted upwards to God for…something.

He looked pained, Daniel thought, and looked away. They ended up waiting for about a half hour like that, and Hugh was right—Daniel was already eager to get out of these clothes. When the doors opened and Theodore led a small group of people into the banquet hall, his eyes found Daniel even as he kept up the conversation he’d been having with a young, fair-featured man whose voice identified him as Philip. The Master smiled and the smile Daniel gave him back was genuine. 

Theodore nodded incrementally and had his guests sit, and then dinner was underway and Daniel focused on not hearing the conversation even as he took in every word, on pouring wine for Theodore and on not noticing how miserable Marcus was standing by the doors. 

He didn’t end up being able to take a knife from the table, but on that night, Daniel didn’t care.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can come talk to me on my [ Tumblr ](http://underhandedpenguin.tumblr.com) if you want! I'm almost caught up on posting all the chapters there, and then maybe it will be something other than just me posting walls of chapters, haha.


	7. Liars Know Best when Others Are Lying as Well

“It sounds like you have everything in hand.”

“Yes, sir.” The contractor had a pointed moustache and Daniel didn’t like him. Not that he had given any indication of that. “All is proceeding on schedule.”

Theodore nodded, waving a little with his finger so Daniel would refill his wine. Daniel did as he was bid, careful not to spill any. Theodore had had him don the scratchy, formal clothes again for this meeting he was having with this man and his partner, who it seemed were building ships for Theodore.

Why Theodore needed ships, Daniel hadn’t managed to surmise from the conversation. But it wasn’t any of his business anyway. 

“And you expect the construction to be complete by mid-summer?” Theodore asked, sipping his wine. Daniel had never seen him drink more than a few sips of wine at a time and he never drank it when he was alone. Maybe he didn’t actually like it. 

“Yes, sir.” The contracted nodded vigourously. “At the latest, sir.”

“I’m pleased, then.” Theodore smiled. “It seems I was right to hire you and your team.” Daniel kept his face blank, and Theodore’s eyes flitted in his direction for just an instant. That had happened a few times since all this had started and Daniel was starting to wonder if Theodore was expecting something from him aside from pouring wine. 

“I’m glad you feel that way, sir.” The man said, smiling widely. “We hope you’ll consider us for your future projects as well.”

“Of course.” Theodore stood. “You must be starving after travelling all day. Please, I’ve had my staff prepare dinner for us in the dining room.” The other two stood as well and, thanking Theodore for his hospitality, followed him to the door. Daniel started to move, but Theodore glanced at him and pinned him in place by the sofa. 

“Benedict will show you to the dining room.” Theodore said to the two. “I’m terribly sorry, but I have a few other quick matters to wrap up before I can join you. I won’t be terribly long.” 

“Of course, sir. You must be very busy.” The contractor’s eyes flitted to Daniel in a much more noticeable way than Theodore’s had done. “We’re grateful you were able to make any time for us at all today.”

“I always have time for those to whom I’ve entrusted my resources.” Theodore smiled and opened the door. “Benedict, please show my guests to the dining room.”

“Yes, master. This way, sirs.” The two men followed Benedict out of the room, with more thanks to Theodore, and Theodore closed the door behind them. 

Daniel tried not to visibly relax. The contractor had been grating, but the tall, western man with the nose piercing who’d been with him had seemed dangerous and Daniel was glad he was gone, even if for only a minute. 

Theodore came back from the door and sat where he’d been sitting before. He didn’t pick up his wineglass, but considered the door for a moment. “What did you make of them, Daniel?” He asked after a bit. 

Daniel hated open-ended questions like that. “The quiet one isn’t a business partner, master.” He said, not sure what else he should say. 

“No, he’s a bodyguard, or perhaps even a sellsword. We each have our own little games to throw each other off-balance. Some of us bring a thug to a business meeting, some of us have a slave pour wine.” Theodore smiled at Daniel. Daniel smiled back, though he didn’t think the quiet man had been a sellsword or a thug. “That isn’t what I was asking, though.” 

“I’m sorry, Master.” When it doubt, apologizing was always a good way to go.

“You’re quite skilled at guarding your expressions, Daniel, but perhaps not so skilled as you think.” Daniel let himself frown a little bit at that before concealing it. “What was it about him—the one doing the talking—that you didn’t like?” 

“I...” Daniel averted his eyes for a moment, deciding if it was worth it to try to lie. “He was lying to you, Master.”

Theodore looked at him for a moment. “Really?” He nodded his head at the other sofa and Daniel went and sat on the edge, keeping his back straight. “That’s quite the accusation. Why do you believe that?”

Daniel never knew when Theodore genuinely wanted to know something and when he was just testing him, which made it very hard to know how to answer anything. Theodore probably did that on purpose, Daniel realized. “It’s too perfect, Master. His story.”

“His story was a status report. I admit it’s not unusual for people such as he to be overly optimistic about costs and deadlines, but outright lying seems unlikely.”

Daniel shook his head. “I’m sorry, Master. But everything adds up too perfectly. From what he said today, he hasn’t gone over cost, there have been no setbacks, he’s has no trouble with his workers. According to him, he hasn’t so much as lost a nail. I can’t believe that it’s that easy to build thirteen ships.” Daniel was very aware as he spoke that this wasn’t how a master and slave sat while they were talking. But then, he wasn’t talking how slaves talked either. Theodore was interviewing him. 

“That’s an interesting point.” Theodore said, reclining a little on his sofa. “I admit I hadn’t considered that. What sort of setbacks might he have had?” 

“It was a very long winter, Master.” Daniel said. “It’s hard to build in the winter, especially since the harbour in White Cape would be frozen. I would expect that to have slowed them down a lot. And construction projects always lose workers in the spring to fishing boats, because you make more money faster by working a fishing boat in the spring.” Two of Daniel’s brothers worked as labourers and they often gave up other work in the spring for fishing.

Theodore frowned. “And yet none of these problems have plagued my friends. Do they believe I won’t notice?” Theodore hadn’t noticed, but Daniel didn’t say that. 

“I think…” Daniel realized Theodore hadn’t been speaking to him too late, but Theodore nodded for him to go on. “I think they asked for way more money and time than they needed at the beginning, Master. And they’ve probably been lying to make it seem like everything adds up the way you want it to this whole time.”

“And had the winter been shorter they would have come to me triumphant with the project completed months in advance.” Theodore nodded. “How very interesting. I have to admit, Daniel, that I had not considered it from that perspective.” 

Daniel looked down at his lap. “I’m sorry, Master. I don’t really know. It’s just a feeling…”

“No, I trust your feeling. When you are in a position such as mine, you grow accustomed to hearing that things are going well, and you are getting what you want and have paid for. It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that money solves all problems, even if you try to avoid it.” Theodore smiled, putted the sofa beside himself. Daniel obediently got up and moved to sit beside Theodore. Seemed the interview was over. “It’s very important to hear thoughts from people whose perspective is different than mine.”

Since everyone Theodore surrounded himself with was either his property or his employee, Daniel wondered how Theodore thought he was ever going to get that. “Yes, Master.”

“You’re doing it again.” Theodore said, slipping an arm around Daniel’s waist. “Hiding your thoughts.”

“Yes, Master, I’m sorry.” Theodore had to know that slaves always did that, Daniel thought. Maybe he expected them not to think, except that was totally at odds with how he treated Daniel. “I was just thinking that…you’re much different from the other people who might have wanted to buy me.” That was close enough to the truth.

Theodore smiled and kissed the top of Daniel’s head. “I told you that on the day we met, didn’t I? I am not interested in a companion for my bed—or rather, that’s not all I’m interested in. You’re clever; one of the cleverest people I know, I think, and I find that very interesting.”

“Thank you, Master.” Maybe Daniel should have tried to appear less clever. But then, anything that kept Theodore interested in him was a good thing. 

“Alright, I’ve probably let our guests sit long enough.” Theodore smiled. “Come serve us dinner, Daniel. I shall look forward to hearing more of your observations about my conversation afterwards. I’d like you to keep track of how many times I’m lied to, if you would.”

Daniel stood up when Theodore did. It seemed like Theodore was thinking mostly of the ways Daniel’s skills could benefit him rather than of the ways they might hurt him. That was good, and the more that he thought that, the easier it would be for Daniel to put a knife in his ribs. “Yes, Master.”


	8. Taking Risks is an Essential Part of Any Important Venture

“Do you know what I do for a living, Daniel?” 

“No, Master.” Daniel lied, though it was partially true. He’d had it explained to him, where Theodore’s money came from, but he hadn’t fully understood at the time and still didn’t. 

As for where this question was coming from, as they walked from the dining room to the sun room, Daniel had stopped trying to figure out why Theodore thought in the patterns he did. 

“Do you have a guess?” Daniel hesitated and Theodore must have noticed, because he smiled. “You must. You’re so observant normally, I can’t imagine you haven’t paid any attention to what I’m doing most of the time.” Daniel coloured a little and thought about it for a second. 

Theodore was reading documents and making notations in books most of the time, and occasionally holding meetings with various people who assured him that things were going well. Daniel thought carefully about what he had seen, what he could say he had surmised from that, trying to keep anything he’d been told beforehand out of his thoughts. “I think…I think you might run a merchant’s guild, Master.” 

Theodore patted Daniel’s head fondly. “What makes you think that?” 

“You meet with a lot of merchants. They pay you, but the act like they work for you, and you talk like they work for you.” Theodore spoke like everyone worked for him, though, so that may not have been saying much. “Some of them have called you a partner, so you must participate in their business, but…”

“But you never see me do any actual work?” 

Daniel bit his upper lip a little. That was what he’d been getting at, perhaps less subtly than he’d thought. “It’s alright, Daniel.” Theodore laughed. “You’re not wrong. Although you’re also not quite right.”

“What…” Daniel paused, and Theodore was looking at him expectantly. Slaves weren’t supposed to ask questions, but that was clearly what Theodore wanted him to do. “What do you do, Master?” What he really wanted to ask was why Theodore had brought this up, but that was probably to remain a mystery. Maybe he just wanted an excuse to talk about himself.

“There isn’t quite a word for it, but I am an investor.” Daniel tried not to frown. He didn’t know what that meant and he didn’t want to look stupid by asking. Fortunately, Theodore continued. “Let’s pretend something. You own a fishing boat.” 

Daniel nodded. “I own a fishing boat.” He repeated. Slaves didn’t own things. Maybe someday he would be allowed to own things again. 

“You go out on your boat every day and catch fish, and then sell them when you get back. You make, let’s say, three silver coins a day doing that.” Daniel nodded slowly. “You look hesitant.” 

“I’m sorry, Master.” Daniel said, flushing a little. Theodore read him too well. “I was just thinking on a small boat I probably only make one silver a day.” 

Theodore looked at him for a moment as if curious, and then smiled. “Alright. You make one silver coin a day. Perhaps that’s enough money for you to live on, but you must spent much of your time worrying about what would happen if a storm capsized your boat, or if you got sick and couldn’t go out. You have to buy food with that money, not to mention docking your boat somewhere and perhaps occasionally repairing it. Maybe you have some savings, but if the boat sinks, you’ll lose your livelihood.” Daniel nodded again. His parents had known people that had happened to, so it wasn’t a difficult thing to grasp. 

“So if, one day, I come to you and offer to buy your fishing boat for…let’s say one hundred silver coins, what would you say?” 

Daniel frowned. “I’d say no, master.” 

“Why?”

“Because in one hundred and one days I’d still need to buy food.” 

“Very good.” Theodore smiled again. “Congratulations on being more clever than many people. Now, I’m not a fisherman, and I don’t want a fishing boat that I can’t use anyway. So I offer you this instead. I’ll buy your boat for those one hundred coins, and hire you to work on it for me, and go out and fish every day. And I’ll show you a better place to fish and a better place to sell them, so you can make those three silvers I suggested earlier every day. Now, you’re very clever, so you want to know what I’m getting out of this, yes?”

“You’re going to take part of the profits.” Daniel guessed, thinking he saw where Theodore was going with this.

“Yes, that’s right. You’ll pay me one silver every day and keep two for yourself. In addition, I’m providing you security—your boat is mine now, so if it needs repairs or if it sinks and needs to be replaced, I’ll be paying for that.” 

It sounded like it was too good a deal to be true, but Daniel was slowly doing the math. He’d always been pretty good with numbers. “But in a hundred days you’ll have made back all the money you paid for the boat.” He said quietly, thinking. “And I’m going to work on that boat until I’m old, and you’ll make one silver for every single day that I do.” 

“That’s right. You’re better off than before, and I’m making the same money that you used to make, but you’re doing all the work.” Theodore sounded pleased. “And what else, Daniel?” 

What else? Daniel tried to think, think what he would do if he was Theodore. A fishing boat wasn’t enough for Theodore to buy this big house, but… “Then…after a hundred days you could go to another fisherman and buy his boat too. And then two more a hundred days later. You could buy ten boats, or…or all of them.” That last realization came to him suddenly, and the idea worried him for some uncertain reason. 

“Very good, Daniel. Now I’m making all that money and I never have to set foot on the water once. Now think past that a little. What would be the worst thing that might happen, for you and the other fishermen, and for me?” 

“A typhoon.” Daniel said, because he’d thought of that already. “That sinks all the boats.”

“Exactly. I’d lose a lot of money rebuilding them, and the fishermen would lose money waiting for them to be rebuilt—assuming they didn’t die in the storm. How might I prevent from going bankrupt should that happen?”

“Um…you could buy boats somewhere else.” Daniel thought. He also thought that wouldn’t help the fishermen, but Theodore was probably more worried about himself. “In another harbour. Or…” It came to him and he felt his eyes widen, and he looked up at Theodore, who was looking at him patiently. “You could buy something other than boats. Carts that merchants use. Or…farms, or...”

“Almost anything, really.” Theodore nodded. “If you have a business venture that makes you money, my job is to find a way to reduce your risk and have it make money for both of us in return. That’s an investment—spending money now to make money in the future. Seeing an opportunity when it presents itself, and being patient with it.”

“That’s…” the scope of that was a little staggering. “That’s very impressive, Master.”

“I’m pleased that you think so. It is a lot of work, just so you don’t think I laze about all day doing nothing. Not as physically challenging as casting nets or tilling land, but managing all those people and all those ventures is time-consuming and difficult, in a different way.”

Daniel nodded. Even admitting that he had no idea how one would even do that, he could see why it wouldn’t be easy. He was also thinking of the fisherman whose boat Theodore hadn’t bought, or the merchant’s guild who didn’t like that merchants were letting Theodore protect them instead. And he could see why someone might want to kill a man like that. 

“What are you thinking now, Daniel? I can see you considering something.”

“Um…” Daniel cast around for something. “Are there other people who are investors too?” He asked. Maybe Theodore had competitors. 

“Oh, yes. I’m hardly the first person to think of it.” Something about Theodore’s smile was a little unpleasant. “After all, think about it. Kings and queens, and counts and duchesses and lords and ladies and magistrates do something similar all the time. They just call it something different, don’t they?” 

“Taxes.” Daniel whispered, starting to feel an enormity to this. That made the list of people who might want Theodore dead even longer. They’d come to the sitting room and Theodore pushed the door open. 

“That’s right.” Theodore said, entering the room ahead of Daniel. “You’re a very clever boy, Daniel.” 

Daniel didn’t feel clever at the moment; he felt very small and insignificant. 

Theodore stopped and Daniel did too, looking past him into the room. There was a young man there, dressed in black and a little heavyset, with a fading tan, leaning against the back wall. He looked up as they came in. He was unarmed, though his stance looked defensive to Daniel, who tensed. “You need better security.” He said. 

“Who are you?” Theodore demanded of the intruder. “What are you doing in my house?” 

“You hired me.” He sounded nervous to Daniel. “I’m here to make my delivery. A little late, maybe, but I wasn’t given a time and if you wanted it earlier you should have specified that in the contract.” 

Theodore was silent for a moment. “Daniel. Wait outside while I speak with our guest.” 

Daniel wanted to protest, to tell Theodore that the intruder’s clothing was weighted in such a way that he was probably hiding knives in his shirt, to insist on staying in the room. But he was a slave, and he’d been given an order, so he didn’t do any of that. “Yes, Master.” He said meekly, stepped back and allowing Theodore to shut the door in his face. 

Trying not to shift around, pace or do anything that would belay his nerves, Daniel waited. Theodore had seemed surprised at the intruder’s presence, but then he’d turned around and decided to speak with him privately. He’d never asked Daniel to leave a room so he could talk to someone before. Maybe Theodore didn’t trust him as much as he’d been led to believe. Leaving doors unlocked and letting him in meetings and asking him things, maybe all of that had been part of the game for him. 

It annoyed Daniel, not because Theodore had done it, but because he’d fallen for it so easily. Even with Hugh and Marcus reminding him all the time, he’d started to forget that he really didn’t mean anything to Theodore, no matter what Theodore said. 

But he remembered now, and he was a little embarrassed. He’d been worried for Theodore’s safety before, going into that room alone. Why should he be worried? If that person killed Theodore, all the better for Daniel. A part of him wondered if he would still get the payment they’d promised him if someone else actually killed Theodore, but he figured he could just escape and take the credit for it, so that probably didn’t matter too much. 

The slightly possessive side of him was thinking that he’d prefer if he could be the one to kill Theodore, though. 

He waited silently for some minutes before Theodore opened the door again. Daniel looked up, putting worry on his face and nothing else. Theodore smiled at him in a way that was probably supposed to be reassuring. “Daniel, I need you do something.”

“Yes, Master.” Daniel said, approaching. Theodore was blocking him from entering the room. 

“Take these.” He handed two small coloured stones to Daniel. “To my study. Put them in the desk in the top drawer.” He pulled a small key out of his shirt and handed that over as well. “I also want you to find Benedict and tell him I want to see him. When you’re finished, wait in the study. We’ll do your reading lesson there.” 

It wasn’t real, Daniel reminded himself. It wasn’t real trust. It didn’t mean anything. He nodded. “Yes, Master.” He turned and scurried off, and Theodore headed back into the room. 

Rather than taking two trips, Daniel decided it was better to find Benedict first, and rather than search the whole house, he quietly asked a maid if she’d seen the man, because the Master wanted him. 

She pointed Daniel to the kitchen, and so that was where Daniel went. Just after lunch, they were cleaning everything, and Daniel supposed they would probably be starting supper shortly. Of course, Theodore wasn’t the only one in the house who needed to eat, so there was a huge stack of dishes on a long counter, and three people washing them in scalding water. 

Benedict was talking to the head chef a little ways off, and Daniel walked past the counter where the dishes were being washed to get in his line of sight. Slaves didn’t talk and they definitely didn’t interrupt, so he just stood there quietly, watching Benedict and making it obvious that he wanted his attention.

After a moment, Benedict turned away from the head chef, who had been complaining about the quality of poultry they’d been getting lately. “Yes, Daniel. Do you need me?”

“The Master wants to see you, sir.” Daniel said promptly, not quite looking at Benedict. “He’s in the sun room.”

“Very well.” Benedict nodded curtly. “What is that in your hand there, boy?”

Speaking of distrust, Daniel thought, opening his hands to show Benedict. “The Master told me to take them to his study.” 

Benedict paused for just a moment before nodding again. “Very good. Do as you’re bid, then.”

“Yes, sir.” Benedict was clearly dismissing him and turned back to the head chef to tell him he’d sort out whatever the problem was. Daniel turned and headed back towards the door of the kitchen, passing by the dirty dishes again. There was a pile of cutlery on the counter within reach. 

_Seeing an opportunity when it presents itself, and being patient with it._ Everything seemed to slow down. Daniel cast around quickly. Nobody was looking at him. Just a slave on an errand. He kept walking normally, every step seeming to take minutes. As he passed by the cutlery he reached up and grabbed the handle of a small knife for cutting fruit, removing it from the pile. He kept walking. His heartbeat could be heard from the other side of the room, eclipsed only by the deafening clatter as one of the forks shifted slightly. Nobody called his name, nobody stopped him. 

Time didn’t move normally again until Daniel was out of the kitchen. He took a long breath, but didn’t dare stop moving. Benedict would be right behind him to go see Theodore and there was nowhere to hide the knife in this stupid shirt. Moving things around so he was holding it in the hand with the key, Daniel adjusted the knife, holding it blade-up so that from the front it would be hidden by his wrist. Except that people didn’t normally hold their forearms this straight when they walked; it was obvious to anyone looking that he was hiding something. 

Nobody was going to stop him—nobody talked to the slaves if they didn’t have to. Theodore and Benedict were busy. All he had to do was walk normally to Theodore’s room and everything would be fine. 

He kept telling himself that, over and over as he moved through the halls in the direction of the bedroom. It seemed farther way than usual. But sure enough, the one servant who he passed in the halls ignored him almost entirely, though the man couldn’t possibly have missed the way Daniel’s every footfall thundered against the carpet. 

He was nearly free—just one more corner and then he was in the hallway to Theodore’s room—when a door opened and Marcus came out into the hall, his eyes catching Daniel and moving quickly from surprise to irritation to worry. “Hey.”

“Hello, Marcus.” They’d barely spoken to one another since Theodore had taken Daniel to his bed. The room Marcus was leaving was a cupboard for linens, so he must have been helping someone put towels or blankets away. 

“What are you…doing here?” Marcus asked, a little stiffly. “Where’s…” He left the question unasked. 

“He’s downstairs.” Daniel said, trying not to appear too obviously like he didn’t want to be here. He could practically feel the knife in his hand vibrating, as if trying to draw attention to itself. Marcus wasn’t looking down there, though. “He sent me to the study to wait for him.” All he had to do was act like this was a normal conversation so Marcus didn’t notice anything. 

Marcus nodded a little, mouth tightening in clear distaste, but he softened almost immediately. “Are…” He sighed, obviously annoyed. “Look, are you okay? You seem…not okay.” 

So it was showing on his face. Fantastic. Daniel had really thought he was better than this. “I’m…fine.” He said, a tad stupidly. Marcus worrying about him was weird, and it threw him off. “I’m just, um.”

“I don’t care that much, Daniel. I just…” Marcus shrugged, made a face. “You looked like something was wrong.”

“It’s hard.” Daniel said suddenly, because he had to say something and this was something he felt. Maybe if he said it out loud that would help. “Not to fall for it, with him. Like you said.” 

Some understanding came into Marcus’s eyes and he smiled grimly, nodding. “Yeah. And, well. You fell for it a long time ago, even if you don’t think you did. I can see it in you.” 

“I…” Daniel didn’t think that was true, he was sure it wasn’t. Trust aside, he’d never let Theodore fool him. At least he didn’t think he did. But he couldn’t say that. “I’m sorry.” He said instead, looking away. “It must be…hard. For me to be here. It must hurt.” 

“Shut up.” Marcus sighed, rubbing his face with one hand. “Just, don’t. You don’t understand…you have no idea.” 

“But I will.” Daniel said. “Someday, I will understand.” Marcus looked at him, frowning slightly. “So until I do, I’m…sorry.”

Marcus watched him for just a second, closing his eyes and laughing a little. “God.” He said, sounding like he might be holding back tears. “I’m such an idiot. It’s not your fucking fault. I’m just…Hugh hated me, when I got here. He was better at pretending than I am, but he did. And now I’m turning around and doing the same goddamn thing and I just…It’s not your fault.”

“It’s not yours either.” Daniel said, because he had a feeling Marcus needed to hear that. He couldn’t help Marcus or the other slaves, not really. But he felt bad for them. He did understand what it was like, what it was like to be nothing. They were all nothing now, all of them, and Daniel didn’t see how it could hurt to try and treat each other like people while he tried to pull them out of it. “I know I haven’t seen it happen yet, but…it’s part of the cycle. It’s part of the game that he plays with us.” 

“Yeah.” Marcus shook his head. “Dammit. Okay. Look, he asked you to do something, so you should go.”

“Right.” Daniel started in the direction of Theodore’s room again, worried that if he passed Marcus and Marcus looked at him from behind, he’d see the knife. “Can we…can we talk more, later?” 

Marcus nodded, smiling sadly. “Yeah, of course. I mean, we’re in the same damn boat, aren’t we?” 

“Yeah.” Daniel wondered what Marcus would say if he knew that he was trying to sink the boat. “Okay, I should go.”

“Yeah, go.” 

“Thank you, Marcus.” Daniel said, trotting off, carefully moving his hand in front of himself as he moved so that Marcus couldn’t see anything. Every step felt like he was walking on coals. 

But he made it to Theodore’s room without further incident and nearly cried as he felt the stress leave him. He was safe. Daniel started to take off his shirt out of habit and then realized his hands were full. And shook his head in irritation at himself, left the shirt on for now and proceeded into the room. 

He’d already picked out a hiding place in preparation for this happening. For now he tossed the stones and the key carelessly on Theodore’s bed and got down on his hands and knees in front of one of the bedside tables. It was raised off the ground slightly on stubby legs, just enough that Daniel could fit his hand and most of his forearm underneath. The bottom was made of two slats of wood worked together, and Daniel jammed the blade of the knife in between them, testing to make sure he could pull it out without too much trouble if he had to. Nobody would look under here, he reasoned, and even if they cleaned or something, they wouldn’t find the knife. Hopefully. 

Once he was satisfied with his hiding place Daniel stood, sighing again. He’d done it—the hard part, he hoped. Theodore wasn’t the only one who could make investments.


	9. Alternate Perspectives are Helpful in Some Circumstances, but Can also Cloud Important Issues

“The cat…ka…ca…caug…” Daniel frowned down at that combination of letters, trying to figure it out. 

“Try reading the rest of the sentence and coming back to it.” Theodore suggested beside him. 

“Okay.” Daniel looked past the sticky word and at the rest of them. “The m…moose. Mouse. So, the cat…” What did cats do with mice? Chased them, ate them… “Caught.” Daniel finally realized. “The cat caught the mouse. But…”

“I wouldn’t worry too much about it. It’s one of those unusual words.” Theodore said, smiling proudly. “It’s best just to commit it to memory.” 

“Right.” Daniel nodded. There were too many of those words, but he looked at the order of the letters, hoping he’d remember them next time. 

“Do the next one.” Theodore told him, leaning forward. “And then perhaps we’ll call it a day.”

“Yes, Master.” Daniel’s back was starting to hurt from crouching over the sheets of paper Theodore had written out for him to read today. He wanted to keep going, though. “The man ta..taug…” It was the same letters, Daniel realized. “Taught. The man taught the boy to read.” 

“Very good.” Theodore patted Daniel on the head and Daniel couldn’t help his grin, more at the sentence than the praise, but Theodore didn’t need to know that. “You’re learning very quickly, Daniel.” 

“Thank you, Master.” Daniel straightened a little, since they were done. They were sitting in Theodore’s room today in front of the low little table. He’d hoped they might work in the study, because it had chairs and a table that were better for sitting at. But usually Theodore had them sit out here.

He’d taken a good look around the study the other day when he’d been waiting for Theodore. Aside from a lot of bookshelves and maps, there wasn’t much of any use in there. At least, not that he could get to. All of the desk drawers had been locked and it looked like they all had different keys. 

Daniel gathered up the papers and the little picture book he’d been looking at earlier and put them all neatly away in one corner of the endtable near the hearth. Then he came back over to Theodore and stood beside his chair, until Theodore pulled Daniel into his lap. “Soon,” Theodore told him, “you shall be able to read anything you like.” He gestured around at the bookshelves he had out here. “You will find yourself less bored when you must sit in here and wait for me, I should think.”

Daniel smiled at that, because honestly it was probably true. “Thank you, Master.” He would be able to read anything he liked—so long as it was one of the books that Theodore owned. If he wanted to read something else, he had to get out of here. 

The knife was still where he’d left it jammed into the bottom of the bedside table. Daniel hadn’t had the opportunity to use it yet, but he was waiting. He had a plan. 

“Hm.” Theodore brushed Daniel’s face with a finger, tracing the bone around Daniel’s left eye. “You’re always thinking so hard.” He said. “I can see it behind your eyes. I’ve never had a slave who thinks quite as much as you do, Daniel. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever met anyone who does.” 

“I’m sorry, Master.” Daniel didn’t know what Theodore was getting at with this, but apologizing was always a good course of action. He didn’t like how easily Theodore could read him. Daniel had worked hard to be able to hide his thoughts and feelings, but clearly he needed to work harder still. 

“No, that wasn’t a reprimand.” Theodore smiled. “I find it rather fascinating. I can see that you’re thinking, but I never know what you’re thinking about. I admit I have spent no small amount of time wondering at what must be going through your mind all the time.” 

There was no way for Daniel to safely answer that question, but fortunately Theodore hadn’t actually asked it as a question. Instead he focused on not seeming nervous. “You think a lot too, Master.” He said, to deflect attention. Theodore liked being complimented, and it was true. Daniel could often see Theodore’s mind working when he was reading, or talking to people or fretting over the maps in his study. 

Theodore smiled a little wider. Daniel didn’t like his smile much. “I like to think so. Though sometimes it feels like I’m only going in circles. I suspect you understand what I mean.” Daniel coloured a little and nodded, because he did know that feeling. “I find that thinking on the same issue for too long often lends itself to that sort of futility.”

“Me too, Master.” Theodore liked to be…validated, Daniel thought, in his opinions. And in this case Daniel really did feel the same way. He’d spent weeks planning into a void for how to kill Theodore and ultimately all it had done was make him tired. Now that he had a knife and a real plan—one not nearly so complicated as the ones he’d been entertaining before—he was feeling much better. 

Theodore nodded down at Daniel, a hand coming up to rest on Daniel’s thigh. “When that happens, I like to try and tackle a new problem. Thinking in circles is a waste of time, but I often find that taking a short break to focus on something else is good for clearing the mind. What do you do when you get stuck thinking in a circle, Daniel?” 

“I…” Daniel looked up at Theodore, uncertain. Theodore gave him a gentle squeeze on the thigh and Daniel tried to think of something. He didn’t normally spend a lot of time thinking about the way that he thought. “I try to pretend I’m someone else, Master.” He said after a minute. “And think about how that person would think about what I’m thinking about.” That wasn’t entirely untrue, at least. Daniel often considered how Theodore would react to various attempts on his life, trying to get a sense of how he might compensate for something unexpected. It was the unexpected that caused failure, after all. 

“Is that so?” Theodore sounded interested, which Daniel supposed meant he’d succeeded. “And in so doing you try to consider a different perspective on the object of your thoughts?” Daniel nodded. “Does it work?”

“Sometimes, Master.” Usually it helped Daniel confirm what he’d already suspected—that whatever he’d been considering as a plan wouldn’t work—so he supposed that was true. 

“Hm.” Theodore eased Daniel into a different position on his lap and shifted his grip so his hand was on the inside of Daniel’s thigh. “Perhaps you and I should trade. I will try to consider a problem as though I were you, and I shall give you something new to think about for a time.” 

“I’d like that, Master.” What else was Daniel going to say? He didn’t need more problems at the moment, and he sincerely doubted that Theodore would be able to seriously consider his perspective in anything—if Theodore was that empathetic, he wouldn’t own slaves. 

“Good.” Theodore paused, considering. “There is a business venture here in Merket I have been considering acquiring. I shall tell you some of the details and you can consider them, and I shall consider them as well from your perspective.” He mostly sounded amused, but that was fine. Daniel nodded. “The business is a slave market.” Theodore said. 

“I didn’t know you could buy those.” Daniel muttered. He’d just sort of assumed that slave markets just…were. It hadn’t really occurred to him that people owned them like they owned fishing ships. That made it worse. 

“You can buy anything if you offer enough to the person who currently owns it.” Theodore told him. Daniel couldn’t help but wonder why it was that Theodore had hired that nervous young man who’d broken into the house the other day—who had clearly been a thief. Obviously it wasn’t possible to buy anything if he’d had things stolen for him. “Now, here is my problem. As you know, when I acquire a business, I try to find ways for it to be more profitable, for myself and the current owner. And I find this business in its current form rather…distasteful.” 

“Why?” Daniel couldn’t help but ask. Obviously Theodore didn’t have a problem with slavery, so there must be something specific to this market that he didn’t like. 

“They traffic almost exclusively in children.” Theodore said. “Which in itself is not a problem—people are going to sell children into slavery, and so it is necessary for slave markets to exist for that purpose.”

Or people could just not sell children into slavery, Daniel thought a little bitterly, but he nodded. 

“What I find distasteful is that for a fee, they allow their patrons to…sample their merchandise.” Theodore said, and Daniel could hear in his tone that it made him unhappy. 

“Like a brothel.” It made Daniel unhappy too. He hadn’t been treated well in the slave pens, but they certainly hadn’t been like that. 

“Yes. Which in addition to being ugly, is illegal. They also frequently ship any children they are having difficulty selling overseas to be gladiators. A profession not as glamourous as you might imagine.” 

Daniel nodded. One day a woman had come into the pens where he’d been kept looking for gladiators—apparently she came twice a year needing new ones and it wasn’t hard to figure out why. “So…you want to stop them from doing that?” He asked. 

“I do. Both of those things. The problem, however, is that it is through those ventures that the business remains profitable. They are not a slave market known for taking good care of their slaves, and they are priced accordingly.” Daniel took that to mean they were sold cheaply. “There are five slave markets in this city, and three which sell children. This is how they stay competitive. The market from which I bought you specializes in healthy, undamaged slaves, at a high price. The third market falls somewhere in between, and generally ends up selling to those looking for labour.” 

It must have been that third market to which Daniel’s parents had sold him originally, he thought, and from where he’d been bought and trained before being resold. He wondered if his parents had known that and sold him accordingly in the hopes that he wouldn’t end up a bedslave, or if they hadn’t cared and had just gone to the first slaver they could find. 

“I have been trying to think how I might remove the elements from this business that I don’t like while having it remain competitive.” Theodore finished. “I haven’t have much success thus far.”

Daniel nodded, thinking about it. It was…unexpected, that Theodore would want to improve the well-being of the slaves in this market. Daniel wanted to help him do that. He himself would prefer to just close the damn place, but from Theodore’s perspective that wasn’t a solution. Daniel needed to meet him somewhere in the middle, somewhere where the worst parts of the market could be closed but it could still make money. 

“If I am thinking like you,” Theodore mused, “I will likely consider some hitherto unnoticed detail that will change how I see the situation.” He stroked Daniel’s thigh absently, as if trying to do just that. “Which is not as easy as you tend to make it appear, I confess.” 

Daniel wasn’t as smart as Theodore thought he was. It just happened that he’d had ideas a few times before now, that was all. 

“I suppose you would also consider the motivation behind the problem, rather than the problem itself.” Daniel looked up at Theodore in confusion—he didn’t do that, at least not on purpose—but Theodore just smiled at him again. “Like you did with my shipbuilder. You knew why he was lying because you thought about why he might want to do that. Likewise, I shall consider why this slave market treats its slaves so poorly.”

Daniel knew why—it was because slaves didn’t mean anything to anyone. And sure enough, that was Theodore’s answer. “I must conclude that they don’t appreciate the value of their merchandise.” Not how Daniel would have put it, but he nodded along. “An attitude endemic to slave owners and sellers, I’m afraid, the belief that their slaves have no value. It is quite incorrect. Especially from a business perspective. Hm. And when considering it like that, part of a solution becomes apparent, doesn’t it?”

“You have to convince them that their slaves are worth something.” Daniel agreed. 

“And I shall do that by…” Theodore paused, thinking. Daniel thought about it as well. A way to prove value, to show that they had worth, beyond being rented out or sold off to die in stacked fights…

“Training them to fight.” Daniel said quietly, the idea coming to him at once. 

“Really?” Theodore sounded entertained. “Why that as a solution?” 

“They could…well, if they’re being sold as gladiators anyway, you should teach them how to fight, so they can be good gladiators. You’d have to wait until they were older, but if you get them as kids and teach them to fight…”

“They’d make very effective gladiators, I should think.” Theodore agreed, nodding. “An investment would be required. Several years before you could really sell any of them.”

“But you could sell them for more if people knew they were good.” Daniel added.

“That’s correct. And I wouldn’t expect you to have known this, but when gladiators win bouts, they often win money—for their owners, if they are slaves. Knowing that, the price to sell them could be even higher. The only catch is that people tend to be wary of training slaves to fight. It historically hasn’t ended well.” 

“You would have to hire enough guards and everything to keep them from trying to escape.” Daniel said. “Or kill you.” He added, as if as an afterthought. 

“Indeed. That would be most unfortunate.” Theodore said, amused again.

“If you only let them have practice weapons that they can’t really hurt anyone with.” Daniel said, still thinking. “And lock those away when they’re not practicing. As long as you had a place like a fort or something for them to stay in, it would be pretty safe. You could also sell them here as guards and soldiers. And…” Daniel frowned. “I mean, I know the idea of slaves having swords is scary for people, but as long as you had them with people who could stop them from doing anything…”

“I think most slave owners would resent the implication that they are afraid of their slaves.” Theodore cut in gently. 

Daniel’s eyes widened a little when he realized what he’d said. “I’m sorry, Master. I didn’t mean to suggest…”

“No. I wasn’t chastising you, Daniel. Nor did I say you were wrong. Only that more politic phrasing may have been in order. Nonetheless, I believe this is an idea worth considering.” Theodore nodded to himself. “Yes, I shall definitely consider this. It seems thinking like you was harder than I’d expected.” Daniel just coloured and looked away. “It’s a good thing I had you to help me along.”

“I hope that I was helpful, Master.”

“And what about you?” Theodore asked. “Do you feel better now that you’ve had a distraction?” 

“Yes, Master.” Daniel didn’t feel better. He was confused. Theodore was a bad person, and Daniel was going to kill him. But there were a lot of slaves in a market somewhere whose lives would get a little better because of Theodore now. He’d done what he’d done to Daniel, and to Hugh and Marcus and the others, and to who knew how many other slaves over the years. But if he balanced that by stopping a lot of others from being hurt, wasn’t that something? 

And worse, sitting here, thinking up a solution to Theodore’s problem, had been…not fun, necessarily, but more enjoyable than most of Daniel’s time here had been. 

Daniel was going to kill Theodore, there were no two ways about that. But it would be a little while before he was ready to do that anyway; and in the meantime he knew he was going to end up thinking on this way too much. 

“And yet you’re still thinking very hard about something.” 

“I’m sorry, Master.” Daniel lied. “It’s just that you keep surprising me.” 

Theodore laughed and wrapped his other arm around Daniel’s belly, kissing his cheek. “I shall take that as a compliment.” It hadn’t been, but Daniel smiled and nodded. “I have a proposition. Let’s play a game, you and I.”

“A game, Master?” Daniel was pretty sure they already were playing a game. 

“One thing I can tell about you is that you have a lot of questions. I can see them on your face all the time, bottled up because you’ve been told that slaves don’t ask questions. Isn’t that right?”

“Uh. Yes, Master.”

“It is difficult to be as clever as you and not ask your questions, I know. So how about this: every time you manage to tell me something I don’t know or suggest something I hadn’t thought of, I shall allow you to ask me a question about anything you like, without fear of punishment, and I shall answer it.”

That seemed a little unrealistic to Daniel. But he looked up at Theodore and nodded. “I’d like that, Master.”

“And in exchange, every time I surprise you, you will give me a kiss. We’ll see whether I get more kisses or you get more questions.” 

Daniel giggled a little in spite of himself. “Okay, Master.” And he leaned up and kissed Theodore on the chin, hating himself just a little for how easy it was. 

Theodore laughed as well. “And your question?”

Daniel paused, thinking. He had a lot of questions that he wanted to ask. What had Theodore talked about with that intruder in the room the other day? Why did he only sleep with slaves? Why did he let Daniel get away with so much that slaves weren’t supposed to do? But he didn’t want to ask any of those just yet—if he were to ever ask them out loud, he’d have to think about them first, and word the questions carefully so Theodore didn’t end up suspecting anything he shouldn’t. 

So instead, Daniel asked, “Did you put me in front of the statue of Daniel on purpose, when you had your friends over?” 

Theodore looked at Daniel, clearly surprised. Obviously not what he’d been expecting. “Yes. You had been working very hard on your letters, so I thought you would appreciate a reminder that you were making progress.” 

Daniel ducked his head a little to hide his embarrassment. “Thank you, Master. I really appreciated that. It was…thoughtful.”

“I’m glad.” Theodore said with a smile. “Saint Daniel was an interesting fellow. He was known for his intuition, actually, for noticing things that others hadn’t. Not unlike you.”

“Really?” Daniel wasn’t sure how he felt being compared to a saint. 

“Yes. It’s a fitting name for you. You should bear it proudly.”

“Thank you, Master.”

Slaves weren’t allowed pride. Someday soon, though, Daniel would be able to do just that. He just had to hold on a while longer.


	10. It’s a Small World, and Conspiracies Make It Shrink

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have a nice healthy dose of Plot, everyone.

“Please wait here for just a moment.” Theodore said to his guests, making to leave the room. Daniel moved to follow, but halted at a ‘stay’ gesture. Daniel stayed, working out Theodore’s intentions as he did. 

These three had come to try and sell Theodore the stone that his other intruder had sold him weeks ago. Daniel had inferred from the conversation that it was them who Theodore had hired to find it for him. Calvin and his team had come armed with a story about an ambush and accusations that Theodore had been behind it, but it seemed like that wasn’t the case. 

And now Daniel was left with the three of them while Theodore conferred with Benedict outside. He would want Daniel keeping an eye on the two identical stones sitting on the table to make sure Calvin didn’t do anything to them. So that was what Daniel did, staying still and standing by the table. He hadn’t been told to do anything, after all. 

“How old are you?” Daniel looked up at Calvin. Not much older than Daniel himself, nor much taller, he had the tan skin tones native to the south and a pointed face that would suit a beard someday. “I’m not going to tattle on you to your master.” Daniel didn’t like him much. The way he’d used formality when talking to Theodore, like it was a weapon, was fake in a way that was grating.

And that question wasn’t helping. Calvin must have been one of those people who had a line in their head beyond which things were okay. If Daniel lied and said he was older than he was, it would be fine for him to be a slave. “Does it matter?” Daniel asked after a moment of watching Calvin, because to him it was wrong no matter how old someone was. 

The smile Calvin gave him was one laced with pity and it made Daniel want to hit him. “No, I guess it doesn’t.” His two employees were standing quietly like the muscle they clearly were—though if Daniel was any judge the huge one standing beside Calvin’s chair was less dangerous than the one at the door. It was obviously Calvin’s job to do all the talking. “What’s your name?”

“Daniel.” He shouldn’t have answered that, probably. He shouldn’t be talking to Calvin at all. He wondered if Theodore had anticipated this.

The look Calvin was giving him was contemplative, almost sorrowful. “I wish I could help you.” He whispered, and what Daniel heard was _I’d help if you if it wasn’t so inconvenient._

Annoyed, Daniel schooled his expression and started cleaning the wine goblets from the table. Lots of people wanted to help slaves, until they realized how much work it would be. “I don’t need your help.” He said, as politely as he could manage, moving away from the table. If Calvin was going to try anything with the stones, he would do it now. 

But Daniel heard nothing, no movement from him at all. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“I’m not offended, sir.” Daniel wasn’t expecting anyone’s help. He was going to help himself. Empty platitudes annoyed him, that was all. “Slaves don’t have feelings to hurt.” 

“Of course. I feel I should at least warn you—you’re not as good at hiding your emotions as you think.” Daniel very carefully didn’t react to that. “I suggest you take a second to name every emotion as you feel it. Naming things makes it easier to control them.”

“I…” Daniel didn’t need to be told that he wasn’t as good as he should be at controlling himself—but if someone who didn’t even know him could see it, then it was a bigger problem than he’d even realized. He turned back to face the room. It was clear that Calvin wasn’t going to do anything untoward. “I’m not supposed to talk to you.” He said quietly, looking at the floor again. It was a stupid suggestion, he thought. Did Calvin really think he was helping?

“Right, sorry.” 

The room was quiet for the several minutes it took Theodore to return after that, for which Daniel was grateful. He kept his mind occupied with idle thoughts about the slave market Theodore wanted to buy. In order to keep doing the illegal things it was doing at the moment, the owners must have contacts with the city guard or someone important, he thought. Theodore would have to be careful to navigate around that so he didn’t annoy anybody important. 

Unless he wanted to annoy someone important, Daniel supposed. 

Finally the door opened and Daniel looked up as Theodore came in, looking in his direction briefly before looking at Calvin, who hadn’t moved from his chair. “I’ve summoned a friend who can verify the authenticity of the stone.” He announced. “It may take some time for him to arrive. I wonder if you’ll join me for lunch in the meantime.” 

“Of course.” Calvin put his fake smile back on and stood. 

“Good. I should like to hear the details of the story you told me earlier, about the hero who guarded the stone.”

“I only know the end of the story.”

“The end is the best part of any story, isn’t it?” Theodore asked as Calvin scooped up both stones and handed the one Theodore had already owned—Daniel kept an eye on his hand, just to make sure—to Theodore. “Benedict will show you to the dining room. I have some brief business and then I’ll join you.” Daniel took that to mean that Theodore wanted to ask him his opinion on what had happened here. 

“Of course, sir.” Calvin said, oozing courtesy, and let Theodore usher him out of the room. 

Once the door was closed behind him, Theodore turned to Daniel, motioning him towards Calvin’s chair. Daniel sat and Theodore did as well, watching him. “Your thoughts, Daniel?”

“He wasn’t lying to you, Master.” Daniel said, trying not to sound reluctant. 

“Nor did I get that impression.” Theodore agreed with a nod. “What else?” 

“He doesn’t like you, Master.”

“Really?” Theodore didn’t sound surprised, just curious. “What makes you think that?”

Daniel hesitated for just a second. “Nobody is that polite to someone they like, Master.” 

Theodore looked at Daniel for a second, and then smiled. “I believe I owe you another question. Later, though, if you don’t mind.”

Daniel nodded, trying to hide his own smile. He shouldn’t like surprising Theodore that much, but there it was. “Thank you, Master. I can wait.” He was going to ask Theodore how old he was—he was mixing benign questions in with ones that were less so, so as to avoid looking too calculated. 

“Did any of them say anything while I was gone?” Theodore asked. “Often people speak as if slaves aren’t there.”

“He asked me how old I was.” Daniel had considered whether to tell Theodore about their conversation, but he didn’t want to risk that Calvin would do it first. 

“Did he?”

Daniel nodded. “And then he asked my name. And told me he would help me if he could.”

“Oh, really.” Theodore’s expression had tightened just a little. “And what did you tell him, Daniel?”

“That I didn’t need his help.” Daniel paused. “And that I wasn’t supposed to talk to him.” 

Theodore laughed at that, his consternation vanishing. “Very well. I should go meet them in a moment—was there anything else?” 

“Michele is more dangerous than he looks.” Daniel said, thinking about the dark man standing by the door. 

Theodore nodded. “Likely he’s their team’s magic practitioner. Gideon can confirm that when he gets here. Which brings me to this. I have summoned him—he is a friend who also happens to be a wizard—and I need you to meet him when he arrives, and bring him to the dining room.” 

Daniel nodded, wondering why Theodore didn’t get Benedict to do that. “Yes, Master.” Maybe he would ask later. He didn’t really care how old Theodore was. 

“Very good. If you’ll go wait for him by the door.” Theodore said, standing. Daniel stood as well, and as they walked to the door together, he got up on his toes and gave Theodore a kiss on the cheek. “What was that for?”

“Usually you send Benedict to the door.” Daniel said, smiling a little. He didn’t want Theodore to think he was objecting. 

Theodore chuckled, shook his head. “I shall see you soon, Daniel.”

“Yes, Master.” They parted ways after leaving the room, and Daniel made for the foyer. It was a huge room with a curving staircase leading up one side, leading to a hallway that looked out onto the room, with a railing. Daniel couldn’t help but idly measure the distance from that railing to the chandelier hanging down from the high ceiling, thinking not for the first time that he might be able to jump the distance if he had to. Not that he planned to or anything, but part of him kind of wanted to. 

The foyer also had doors leading off in several directions, all of them open, and was full of statuary, artwork and a particularly shiny gold fountain in the centre. Daniel ignored all of that and stood by the large front doors. Maybe, he thought, Theodore wanted to keep him away from his visitors in light of the conversation he’d reported. But it had seemed like he’d already planned this. Maybe this Gideon didn’t get along with Benedict. Or maybe Theodore was just once again demonstrating that he didn’t have a clear grasp on how social rankings worked. 

Either way, Daniel stood quietly and waited by the door for quite some time, thinking on that trying not to think on his earlier conversation with Calvin. Naming things made them easier to control, did it? Daniel couldn’t help but think about that. He knew that a lot of masters renamed their slaves on acquiring them, so maybe that was why. 

Maybe Theodore would have a few seconds to regret asking for Daniel’s real name one night. 

There was a series of sharp raps on the door, impatient. Daniel couldn’t reach the little opening in the door that Benedict used to see out, so he just opened one of the double doors a fraction, peering out at the visitor. 

And he nearly slammed the door in the face of the young man standing there. _Surprise._ Daniel thought to himself, just in case there was something to that notion. _Worry._ This was someone he knew, or at least someone he’d met before.

Admittedly, the man standing at the door hadn’t had as many piercings in his ears or his nose, and his hair had been shorter and not coloured with orange streaks, and he hadn’t been wearing a tunic that could have doubled as a tent or three dozen bracelets on each arm, but the long face and mismatched eyes were the same and Daniel clearly recognized Darwin.

Darwin’s eyes had gone wide on seeing Daniel as well, but before Daniel could do more than wonder what an employee of the people who’d trained him was doing here, Darwin composed himself. “You’re new.” He said with a cheeky smile. “I’m Gideon. Your master called for me.” He was talking to Daniel like he was stupid. 

“O-of course.” Daniel said, stepping back and opening the door to allow Darwin entry. Darwin came in, looking at Daniel quickly and then around the foyer even more quickly, tongue coming out to play with the ring in his lip. Then he turned back to Daniel. “The Master is waiting for you in the dining room, sir.” Daniel said, keeping rein on his expression. _Confusion._ He thought. What was he doing here?

“Lead the way.” Darwin said, nodding at Daniel. “And what does Theo want me for today?” He asked as Daniel turned to head for a side door. “His message just said to come. He’s very imperious that way, I’m sure you’ve noticed. Treats everyone like he owns them.” 

“The Master has two identical stones.” Daniel told him, figuring that it couldn’t hurt. “He wants you to tell him which one is real.”

“What, is one of them actually a sheep?” Darwin asked and then laughed. “I’m sure I can do that for him. Which one were you?” He asked, his voice dropping. “You were…Danny, right?”

“Daniel.” 

“Right, Daniel.” Darwin nodded. “I’m…”

“Gideon.” Daniel told him, interrupting. Slaves didn’t interrupt. “You’re Gideon, you told me that already.”

“Right.” Darwin—Gideon smiled at him. “If it came up that you had a different name for me, Theo’d want to know why, and then he’d want to know why you know me at all, and…”

“I know.” Daniel snapped. _Anger._ “I’m not stupid.” 

“I guess you wouldn’t be.” Gideon agreed, looking up at the ceiling. “Not to still be alive. Some of your buddies were a bit dumb. Guess it’s a good thing you got here instead of them. I’m sure our fearful leader will be happy to hear about this.” Daniel tried hard not to think of the four other boys who had been bought alongside him and then sold to people who weren’t Theodore. They’d been warned of that, that they might just go through all that and still end up a meaningless slave. 

Once Daniel killed Theodore, he’d try to find the others and rescue them. 

“Have you been practicing your tumbling?” Gideon asked a few seconds later, and Daniel wished he would just stop talking. Darwin had been their dance instructor, drilling them in acrobatics and flexibility. Daniel hadn’t known he was a wizard until today. 

“I don’t have a lot of time to myself.” Daniel told him, trying to keep calm. Theodore would know if he was upset when he came into the dining room. 

“I’m sure you must have some.” Gideon told him. “If I remember you right, you were almost okay at it by the end. Be a shame to lose that now. Besides, it doesn’t seem like you’re doing much else.” He paused. “Theo still being alive and all.”

“I know what I’m doing.” _Anger, anger._ Daniel thought. This wasn’t working. “I have a plan.”

“That’s reassuring.” Gideon said, in a way that suggested it wasn’t. “Do you need help?”

“No.” Daniel told him, pushing down a surge of… _possessiveness._ He didn’t need Gideon stealing Theodore out from under him. “What are you doing here, anyway?” 

“I’m friends with Theo.” Gideon smiled again. “We go back a bit. Someone has to keep an eye on him, after all. And on you too, now. Can’t have everything going belly-up because you screwed up, now, can we?” 

Daniel flashed a glare at Gideon. “The only way this is going to get screwed up is if you manage to blow my cover.” He growled.

But Gideon just looked amused. “Blow your cover?” He asked, reaching out and poking Daniel in the forehead. “Someone’s a lot taller in his head than in real life, isn’t he? Careful to remember that you’re a tool, Danny—an important tool, but a tool, and tools are replaceable. And so are slaves, and that’s not a look that slaves give to free people.” 

Daniel held his glare in place for a few more seconds before closing his eyes, breathing and imaging stabbing Gideon in the face. It took him a few seconds, but he managed to wrestle his anger into place, and made his face go blank again before opening his eyes. “I’m terribly sorry, sir. Please forgive my impertinence.” 

“That’s better. Stay on that note and you’ll do just fine.” Gideon said, smiling again. 

They were coming on the dining room, the doors of which were open. Daniel mentally sent an acknowledgement upwards as they passed through the doorway, putting on a little smile when his eyes came to rest on Theodore, who was in the middle of saying something to his three guests. “My friend owns the Crown, as I said, and I know that two pieces were rumoured to be in the collection of a Lord Ferrise, but his estate was plundered by a dragon, so heaven only knows where they ended up.” Theodore looked up from the table, smiled at Daniel. “Ah, Gideon. Thank you for your prompt visit.” 

“Anything for you, Theo.” Gideon said, grinning as he approached the table. “Your new buddy tells me you have a toy you need checked out.” He snatched a stick of bread from the table and bit into it as he rounded to stand behind Theodore. “That it?” He asked, and Daniel saw that Theodore had the stone on the table with him. 

“Indeed.” Theodore said, seemingly amused. “Though I’m told this one is a fake, and that Calvin here has the original.” 

“And you don’t want to pay unless you’re sure.” Gideon said, nodding. “Fair. Let’s see them, then.”

“It’s best,” Michele said, looking at Gideon warily, “to compare them with each other. You should see pretty quickly that one is a copy of the other.” 

“Alright, hand it over, then.” 

Calvin picked up the second stone from the table beside him, and made as if to hand it over the table to Theodore before pausing, glancing over his shoulder at Daniel and, his posture reading conviction, reached out his hand to pass it to Daniel instead.

Theodore nodded Daniel over and Daniel held out his hand, letting Calvin drop the stone into it with an unreadable look on his face. _Confusion._ Daniel thought, reflecting that in a way, naming his feelings was making it easier to suppress them, at least. Daniel trotted around the table and held out the stone to Theodore, who didn’t take it but nodded at Gideon and held out the other stone in his own hand. 

Gideon hummed a little to himself as he wiggled his hands, sticking out his tongue again. “Yep.” He said after a second, nodding at the one in Theodore’s hand. “That’s a piece of junk right there.” As he spoke, the stone in Theodore’s hand faded from purple to ordinary stone-grey. 

Bemused, Theodore looked down at the rock in his hand. Daniel wondered how much he’d paid that thief for it. “Alas.” Theodore declared. “A very expensive piece of junk.” 

“Sorry.” Calvin said. He didn’t sound sorry.

“Near as I can tell, it was no fault of yours, Calvin.” Theodore sighed, slipped the stone into a pocket, and pulled out a key, which he held out for Daniel. “Gideon, I’ve another stone I should like you to check the authenticity of, since you’re here anyway. Why don’t you sit and eat while Daniel goes to retrieve it?” He smiled at Daniel, giving him a nod of dismissal. He didn’t take the purple stone, which Daniel took to mean he wanted it put away in the desk drawer. 

“Well, I’m not going to say no to free food.” Gideon said, waving a hand at the far wall where some more chairs were sitting, making one slide over to him so he could sit in between Wesley and Theodore. “As long as I’m not interrupting.”

“I was just telling my friends about the Sea King’s Regalia.” Theodore said, as Daniel moved away. “You know the story, don’t you?”

“Sure. Lots of people say he was a wizard, you know.”

The rest of the conversation was lost to Daniel as he left the room, trying not to sigh. _Relief._ He thought to himself, heading towards Theodore’s bedroom. He noticed the hallway was empty and, with a brief moment of hesitation, increased his pace to a near-run, tumbled into a cartwheel from which he sprang into a backflip that he landed with only a little imbalance.

“Almost okay at it.” He grumbled, looking around again to make sure nobody had seen before continuing towards the bedroom. 

The red stone turned out to be real, and even as Daniel asked Theodore his age later that day, he was mentally wording the inevitable question about how it was that Theodore had befriend an employee of the people who wanted him dead.


	11. More Than Anything, Liars Need Protection from the Truth

Daniel had thought that he would be excited at the prospect of finally getting to leave Theodore’s house, but he found that he was actually more nervous than anything else. He hadn’t set foot outdoors without someone holding him on a very short chain for such a long time that the world felt almost too big. 

Granted, he was still on a very short chain. Just because Theodore wasn’t holding it didn’t mean it wasn’t wrapped around his neck. 

“You seem nervous, Daniel.” 

Daniel put on his empty smile and showed it to Theodore. “A little, Master.” He admitted. 

“You needn’t be.” Theodore assured him, giving Daniel a little pat on the head. “You shall not be required to do anything that I don’t normally ask of you at home.” 

Minus, Daniel assumed, sitting on Theodore’s lap and exchanging kisses. He nodded. “Yes, Master.” He also inferred that Theodore wanted him to pay attention to the meeting he was about to have—which stood to reason, otherwise why would he have brought Daniel?

Theodore smiled at him and a moment later the carriage trundled to a halt. Theodore pulled back a curtain to look out the little window, and, nodding to himself, opened the door. His driver was just bringing around a stool and Theodore stepped out of the carriage, Daniel a step behind him. 

The sunlight was bright in his eyes, and Daniel was hot in the scratchy clothes. The courtyard into which they’d stepped was freshly swept in a way that seemed to emphasize that it wasn’t normally this clean, and smelled of some sort of flower way too heavily to be anything but an attempt to cover up a smell. It was quiet as far as open spaces went, but Daniel could hear the sounds of the city on the other side of the wall, blocked off but still there.

The courtyard reminded Daniel a little of himself, and he tried not to dwell on it. 

“Come, Daniel.” Theodore beckoned, and Daniel, clearing his head, did as he was bid. The building was two storeys of white plaster, though Daniel would have bet all of Theodore’s money that it had at least two basement levels as well. Slaves didn’t need sunlight or fresh air. 

Knowing what was inside the building, Daniel tried to control the tight ball of anxiety in his chest as they approached the doors, bracing himself for whatever he might see. But it was just a sort of dingy hallway with a weak lantern in one corner. A bored-looking young woman was waiting for them there. “You’re Theodore?” She asked, and then without waiting for an answer, turned around. “He’s waiting for you upstairs.” 

“Lead the way, then.” Theodore said, concealing what he was thinking. Daniel had a pretty good idea, though. 

She led them down the hall and up some stairs, down another hall and around a corner to a heavy door. There had been a lot of doors on the way past, but they’d all been closed and Daniel had gotten a feeling that was for the best. Imagining what was in there was bad enough; Daniel wasn’t sure he’d have been able to cope with actually seeing it.

It would be bad if he accidentally attacked someone before he was finished with Theodore. He had to keep himself under control. Maybe after Theodore was dead he’d come back here. Maybe that was what he’d do for a living after he was freed. Just go around killing slavers until there weren’t any left. 

It was an appealing prospect, Daniel had to admit, but for now he kept his eyes on the floor and followed Theodore into the slaver’s office. 

“Master Theodore.” Daniel had expected the man to be slimy-looking, maybe fat and missing some teeth and with a stained shirt. Instead he was a grandfatherly figure who looked kind and spoke in a soft voice. He looked at Daniel in clear surprise as the two of them entered the room. “My, my. He’s pretty, isn’t he? Don’t tell me you’ve come all this way to sell him to me.” 

Daniel’s eyes widened despite himself at the implication, but Theodore put a hand on Daniel’s head and smiled at the man. “Master Clement, thank you for making time for me today. Unfortunately for you, Daniel is only here so I wouldn’t get lonely on the long carriage ride in.” 

“Of course, of course.” Clement smiled up at Theodore, waving him down into a chair. “Excuse me if I don’t stand, my hips aren’t what they used to be.” 

“Of course.” Theodore was using his very best fake smile as he sat down. Daniel stayed standing by the door, looking at nothing in a practiced way. “You read the letter I sent?” 

“I did. You’ve a business proposition for me—interesting, as you’re not known to be in the slave-trading business.”

“Yet.” Theodore allowed, with a nod. “I’ve a mind to change that—and ideas for how I might benefit both of us in doing so.” 

The meeting lasted less time than Daniel expected. Theodore laid out his plan—their plan—for how to make the slaver more prosperous, and they talked about some of the details of it for a little bit. And then Clement declined, and refused to entertain the topic further. 

And that was it. The young woman who’d led them there wasn’t present when they left, leaving the two of them to make their own way out. Daniel was still trying to figure out what had even happened when Theodore smiled at him and put a hand on his shoulder. “I wouldn’t worry overly, Daniel.”

“Master?”

“I expected him to refuse the first offer. It wasn’t through a flaw in what we plan to do that Clement wasn’t interested. Did you notice when he lost interest?”

Daniel thought back to the conversation. “It was right after you said he’d have to stop renting out his slaves.” 

“That’s right. Now think about that and tell me what you can guess about it from what you heard.” 

Daniel did, frowning down at the floor as he considered. “He really doesn’t want to stop operating this place like a brothel.” He muttered, to himself. “And it’s not about money, because you gave him a way to make more without doing that.”

“So he must have another reason.” Daniel nodded, and Theodore smiled. “Given his age, I think it’s not likely he’s partaking all that often in his own merchandise, so let’s rule that out as an option. There’s a possibility that he’s simply a sadist who enjoys the idea of children being raped, but let’s assume that’s not the case for a moment, shall we?”

Daniel nodded again, thinking that probably wasn’t the reason. Not that he didn’t think people could be that bad, but it wasn’t the impression he’d gotten from the man. “He…if it’s not because it makes money and it’s not because he wants to, then…could someone else be making him run it that way?”

“I think something like that is the most likely, yes.” Theodore nodded as they came upon the door to the courtyard where the carriage was waiting. “There is another party that has interest in keeping this business running the way it is—so our task becomes to find out who that is and do something about them.” 

Daniel opened the door for Theodore and wondered what ‘do something’ meant in this case. “First we must draw up a list of suspects.” Theodore continued, as they headed outside into the silent courtyard. “Which shouldn’t be too hard with a little logic, and we’ll go from there. Have you any ideas, Daniel?” 

“The city guard hasn’t been stopping him from doing this.” Daniel said, voicing something he’d been thinking for a while. “So maybe it’s someone who can tell them what to do.” Which couldn’t be a long list of people—the city magistrate and some lords, and maybe some other rich people like Theodore who could bribe them.

The list was probably nearly identical to the list of people who might potentially have planted a killer in Theodore’s household to end his life. 

“That seems likely, yes. There are not many people with that capability in town.” They were just a few paces from the carriage now and the driver had yet to come around with his stool so Theodore could climb up. In fact, Daniel couldn’t see the man anywhere. 

Maybe he was just using a privy or something, but… “Of course, we can expect Clement to tell his patron what has happened today, so it is possible that the one we’re looking for will make themselves known before we have to do much.” Theodore went on.

The courtyard was too still and, Daniel noticed as they got a step closer, the carriage was sitting low on his axles—as if someone were in it. Or…

“Master.” Daniel saw movement from the roof of the carriage all at once and before he could think, he was leaping to push Theodore aside. He took Theodore by surprise and so even his meagre weight was enough to get the Master off his feet, and Daniel winced at how hard they hit the ground. He heard a snap and a loud crack behind him, and looking up at the carriage, saw the man up there dropping a crossbow and drawing a knife, leaping down to approach them. 

Daniel cast a quick, worried glance at Theodore, who seemed a little out of it. Maybe he’d hit his head. What was he doing? He should let this man just kill Theodore and be done with it. 

Except that he would probably kill Daniel too if he could and besides, it was too public, it would be too obvious that it wasn’t Daniel who had killed Theodore. Daniel wanted Theodore dead but he also didn’t want to be cheated out of his freedom because it hadn’t been his knife being introduced to Theodore’s heart. 

Daniel scrambled to his feet with one last glance down at Theodore. He wasn’t completely unconscious, but nor were his eyes open. “Ian…” He muttered quietly. “What’s…”

Daniel wondered who that was, but he turned away from Theodore and faced the approaching would-be killer. He was a young man, and he looked angry. “Move out of the way, kid.” The man growled, but Daniel heard the waver in his voice. “I’m not here for you.”

He had a second knife at his belt and Daniel moved towards him, ignoring the man’s shout of surprise and taking a breath as he went. The man slashed at him and Daniel ducked under it, bringing up his arm to block the attempted grab, and pushed his way to the man’s belt, where he grabbed the second knife and drew it in a slash that was aimed at the man’s face, all one motion. 

“What the fuck?” The man demanded, stepping back in a leap and bringing his blade up in a very sloppy defensive posture. Daniel pursued, slashing at his arm. The man retaliated with a snarl, stabbing downwards, and Daniel knocked him aside, wincing. He was definitely not the stronger of the two of them, and the shock of that down his arm had hurt. The killer pulled back his arm and tried to get Daniel from the side, and Daniel pivoted, then spun to avoid being punched by his opponent’s other hand, and ducked under his arm and straightened, bringing the knife to his prey’s chest. 

And he stopped, froze with his blade right at the man’s heart. If he stabbed forward, if he’d kept moving, he’d kill this person. 

In all of his training and all of his practice, Daniel had never killed anybody before. 

In the time that he took to be daunted, though, the man reached up, slashing Daniel’s cheek with his blade, and Daniel snapped his arm up to grab the man’s wrist and stop it from opening up his neck. Adrenaline gave him the strength to hold back but it robbed him of thought, made it impossible for Daniel to consider a way out. And so he leapt forward with a shout, pushing his knife into the man’s chest as both of them fell to the ground. 

The man hit the ground with a thud and Daniel landed on him. The attacker’s eyes were open, staring up at the sky. His bowels evacuated and blood flooded his shirt. Daniel sat up, scrambled away from him, and just watched him. Watched him die. 

“Daniel.” 

Daniel started, a gasp shaking him as he turned at Theodore’s voice. Had he seen? Had he seen Daniel fight off and kill an armed man? A slave, a boy from a poor dockside slum, couldn’t do that. Theodore had seen, and he was going to know why. Daniel thought about the knife the man had dropped. He could probably get it and get to Theodore before… A hand fell on his shoulder and Daniel jumped. “Are you alright?”

Theodore sounded more worried than anything, and Daniel risked looking up. He had a bit of an unfocused look in his eyes and was blinking a lot. “Master?” 

“He…tried to kill you, Daniel.”

Daniel nodded vaguely, tendrils of relief stretching out within him. Maybe he hadn’t seen, or at least hadn’t seen all of it. “He tried to kill you, Master. I think I was just in his way.” 

Theodore nodded vaguely, and Daniel could see clarity coming back into his expression. He must not have hit his head that hard. “You put yourself in between us, didn’t you?” And it was a question, but Daniel never knew whether Theodore’s questions were honest. 

“Yes, Master.” Daniel bit at his lip. “I was afraid.” 

“I’m sure you must have been. I saw him trying to stab you—you were lucky not to have been too badly hurt.” Theodore brushed the cut on Daniel’s cheek as he spoke. Daniel hadn’t realized how close they were. Theodore glanced up at the building and then back to Daniel.

“Are you hurt, Master?” Daniel asked. “Should I go get someone?”

“No, I’m sure they’ll be here in a moment. I’m sorry.” Theodore surprised Daniel with a hug, and Daniel surprised himself by not wanting to shrink away from it. “You must have been very afraid.”

“I was, Master.” Daniel nodded, and he didn’t know if that was true or not, but it might have been and saying it made him realize how shaky he was in Theodore’s arms. It was nice to be held. The blood from his cut smeared onto Theodore’s shirt. 

“You did a wonderful job. And I know you’re very overwhelmed and I want you to know that I’m very proud of you, but I need to tell you something very important, so listen.”

“Yes, Master.” What could Theodore possibly need to say to him right this very minute?

“If you are asked what happened here, you must tell anyone who wants to know that I killed that man.”

“Master?”

“That he knocked you aside and I was able to overpower him, that’s what you must say, do you understand?” 

“I…” Daniel looked over at the dead man again and had to look away. It was a strange thing for Theodore to demand credit for. “I understand, but…” He cut himself off. It was cold, he noticed vaguely. 

“It is a crime, Daniel, for a slave to kill a free person. No matter the reason, no matter that he was trying to kill me, or you. No matter if it was an accident. You’ll be put to death if anyone learns you killed him. I won’t be able to help you.” Theodore sounded…afraid, Daniel thought. 

Daniel was afraid too, for real now. He hadn’t known that. “Okay.” He said, shaking all the more. “Okay, Master.” The dead man seemed to loom large over him now, and the fact that Theodore knew, even if he didn’t really know, was an oppressive fact. 

“You and I will know the truth.” Theodore assured him, hugging Daniel tighter. “But we must let everyone else believe the lie. I couldn’t bear to lose you, especially not for saving my life. You and I will know the truth, Daniel.”

“What the truth is doesn’t matter.” Daniel muttered vaguely. “Only what we want the truth to be.” They’d said that to him, when they’d first bought him. First started training him. _You’re slaves and that’s the truth. At least for now. If you don’t like the truth, change it until you do._

“That’s right.” Theodore nodded, and if he’d noticed anything strange in the comment, he didn’t mention it. “And the truth we will make is one where you won’t be in danger, Daniel. I’ll protect you as you protected me, I promise.” 

Daniel looked at the body, wishing he could look away. “Thank you, Master.” He answered. Daniel would kill Theodore, just like he’d killed that man.

He’d done it once. Now that he had, Daniel knew he could do it again.


	12. Kindness and Malice Can Come in Equal Measures from Unexpected Places

“Daniel. Daniel, wake up.” 

Daniel stirred, but apparently not fast enough. “Dammit, Daniel. Wake up, you lazy…”

“Marcus.”

Daniel opened his eyes, saw Hugh and Marcus looking down at him. “Sorry.” He mumbled, trying to work the sleep out of his mouth. “Was I asleep for long?” 

“Not really.” Hugh said, helping him sit. “But Benedict just knocked on the door. The Master wants you to get dressed and go see him in the sitting room.”

Daniel nodded, rubbing at his eye with one hand and reaching down to tug the collar of his shirt over his head with the other. Hugh helped him out of it and started folding it automatically, and Daniel made to stand, but Marcus handed him the formal clothes before he needed to. ‘Get dressed’ always meant those. “You looked like you were having a nightmare.” Marcus said, affecting unconcern. 

Taking the pile and quickly pulling on the undershirt, Daniel nodded. “I think I was.” 

“You think?”

Daniel nodded again, leaning back to pull the shorts on as well. “I don’t really remember. There was…” He paused, shaking his head. He really didn’t remember much of what he’d been dreaming. “There was a lot of blood.” Daniel said, more quietly than he’d meant to.

He didn’t need to actually remember what the dream had been. He knew—it was the same thing he’d been unable to get out of his mind for days. He kept going back to it in his head, seeing the look in that man’s eyes as he died, hearing the sound of his last breath leaving him, smelling the blood. 

The others all looked at him sadly, but Daniel kept dressing methodically, standing to pull on the pants and then the shirt. Marcus did up the buttons for him even though Daniel could button his own shirt, while Daniel tucked the shirt in and tied up the laces on the pants. 

When he was dressed, Daniel took a breath and made to turn, and Marcus surprised him with a hug. “Marcus?” Not really sure how to react, Daniel hugged back.

“You’re okay.” Marcus told him, quietly. “It’s okay.”

“I…” Daniel felt himself give a little, and hugged Marcus tighter. “I know.” It wasn’t okay, not as long as he was here, as long as they were all here, not as long as the others who’d been trained with Daniel were still chained up somewhere. 

As long as Theodore was alive, it wasn’t okay, and Daniel’s need to make it okay was one of the only things that made it possible for him to work through what had happened—nobody had told him that killing someone was harder after the fact than during. 

“Thank you.” Daniel just let Marcus hold him for a second. Nobody had held him like this, not in a long time. “Thank you, Marcus.” 

Marcus sighed, and gave one last squeeze before letting Daniel go. “You looked like you needed a hug, that’s all.” He muttered, a little red in the face. “You should go, he’s waiting for you.”

“Yeah.” Daniel nodded and smiled at Marcus, turning. Hugh put a hand on Marcus’s arm and Daniel saw Marcus move as if to shrug him off, then stop himself. 

Outside the room, Daniel took a deep breath and headed down the hall to the sitting room. The other slaves all thought that Daniel had been forced to watch Theodore kill that man the other day, that he was upset because of that. Following Theodore’s orders, Daniel had told them that. Had told everyone that. The city guard had questioned Daniel alone after talking to Theodore, but he’d carefully corroborated Theodore’s story. 

He’d been terrified that they would see through it, know he was lying, see the blood on his hands. Daniel had found that putting his mind on the other trainees, and on Hugh and Marcus and all the other slaves who he needed to help was useful in keeping his brain on track and keeping him calm enough not to seem like a liar, anyway. They’d accepted Theodore’s version of events. 

Moving quickly, Daniel made his way to the sitting room, where he knocked quietly on the ajar door before entering. Theodore was sitting with Philip, a hook-nosed older woman named Cassiopeia, and a svelte western man with a pointed beard named Georg. Looking up when Daniel entered the room, Theodore smiled and beckoned him over. 

“My friends were concerned for your health.” Theodore told him, pulling Daniel to sit beside him on the narrow sofa. “I’ve told them all about our dangerous adventure the other day.” 

The silence that followed made it clear that he was supposed to say something, so Daniel looked down at the floor between the four of them and said, “Thank you, but I’m okay.” He lied. “The Master protected me.” He could see it again in his head, the look in that man’s eyes, and Daniel tried not to let it overwhelm him. 

_Upset._ He told himself, trying to control it. _Sadness? Fear?_ He wasn’t sure, hadn’t been for a while now. 

“Still, you must have been very afraid.” Georg said in a rumble. 

Daniel had been, and still was, so he nodded. He was wondering why Theodore had really called him here. It didn’t escape his notice that these three were the only ones among Theodore’s friends who he hadn’t put on his list of potential suspects for who was influencing Clement. 

“Do the guard have any leads for who may have hired the man, Theodore?” Philip asked. Now that Daniel wasn’t the focus of conversation anymore, he was being dutifully ignored, as was expected for slaves. 

“Alas, no.” Theodore sighed. “I suppose I’d have been better off had I been less zealous in defending myself.” If Theodore really had defended himself, Daniel thought, he wouldn’t be so calm. Daniel had been prepared to kill someone and thinking of the fact that he’d done it made him shake still. 

“They don’t think it was Clement?” Cassiopeia asked. She was still looking partially at Daniel.

“No.” Theodore shook his head. He was quite certain that the attempt on his life and Clement’s benefactor were unrelated, and Daniel agreed. Theodore’s list for who might potentially have tried to assassinate him was much longer, and Daniel had carefully committed the names on it to memory. None of these three were on that list either. “He had no reason to have wanted me dead prior to our meeting and hardly would have had time to hire someone during my walk from his office to my carriage.” 

“It’s good that neither of you were hurt.” Georg said.

“A few cuts.” Theodore smiled. “Nothing to worry much about.” Theodore’s preferred healer had apparently up and left town without telling anyone, so he’d had to ask Gideon over to do the healing and Daniel had suffered under that smirk while sitting through the process. Fortunately Theodore had stayed with him, so Gideon couldn’t actually say any of the things that his expression had implied. 

“What about suspects, then?” Cassiopeia wanted to know. “Do you have any?”

“I’m not the most loved man in the world, I know, but I can’t imagine who would want to send a killer after me in broad daylight, no.” Daniel noticed the way that all the extra words made that lie into something true, and admitted to being a little impressed. He wondered, though, why it was that if these people weren’t on either of the two lists, Theodore felt it necessary to conceal the truth from them. 

Their conversation went on for a bit, all three of Theodore’s friends suggesting possible suspects for the list. All of them were already on the list. When it came time for them to go, Theodore smiled and walked to the door with them. “You needn’t worry about me; I’m well protected here in the house; I shall just have to hire a bodyguard for going out, I think.”

“I know a few good names for you.” Georg promised, clasping Theodore’s hand. “I’ll send you some suggestions.” Georg owned two theaters in the city, Daniel remembered, and he wondered if theaters were particularly dangerous or if it just happened that Georg knew good bodyguards socially. 

“You might consider magical protection as well.” Cassiopeia added. “From someone other than Gideon, maybe. I can help you arrange something if you like.”

“I’d appreciate both.” Theodore promised, smiling. As the three of them made their goodbyes, he said, “Philip, if I could have a quick word before you go.” Daniel wished he could go too. He didn’t want to be around people. 

“Of course.” Philip looked nervous for just a second, but then it was gone and he waited patiently while Cassiopeia and Georg left. “What is it?”

“I’ve found a good team that has agreed to hunt for the other pieces of the Regalia.” Theodore said, voice low. “They’re out on the hunt now, and given their past performances for me, I think we can expect results fairly soon.”

Philip’s face fell for just a moment, and even Theodore caught it this time. “What is it?”

“Ah.” Philip hesitated, and Daniel realized after a second that he was embarrassed. “As to that. I was robbed a few weeks back. I…don’t have the Crown at the moment.”

That got Daniel’s attention, but he just stayed standing behind Theodore. Theodore, fortunately, was more free to respond. “Oh, dear. Why didn’t you say something sooner? I’ll help you track down the thief at once.” 

“I’ve sent a team of people to do that.” Philip said with a nod. “Most of what was stolen from me has been recovered already; looks like it was just fenced in the city. I don’t think there was a grand purpose behind the break-in, just someone looking for gold. I’ll get it back soon enough.”

“Good, that’s good.” Theodore frowned. “I presume you’ll be upgrading your security?”

“Naturally.” Philip said, smiling sardonically. 

“Excellent. Do let me know if there’s anything I can do to help, of course.”

“Of course. But I have it in hand.”

“If you’re sure, friend.” Theodore smiled again. “Sorry to have kept you.”

“I’m glad you’re not hurt, Theodore.” Philip smiled back, and it was just as fake, and clasped hands with Theodore before leaving. 

Theodore waited a moment after the door had shut, leaving the two of them alone. “Your thoughts, Daniel?”

“I…” Daniel swallowed, tried to compose himself, to stop thinking about the colour of blood. “I think we should put him on the list, Master.” He didn’t say which one. He had a feeling Theodore would infer that he meant both. 

“Yes, as do I. It’s…unfortunate. I have always considered him a good friend.” 

“I’m sorry, Master.”

“Not to worry, Daniel. This is how life works sometimes.” Theodore did sound upset, Daniel realized. “I wonder if Pascal had the Crown with him while he was here in the house.” He mused to himself. “Wouldn’t that have been something?” 

Daniel didn’t care about the Crown—he didn’t really know what it was anyway. He was still thinking. If it was Philip who had been behind the fake stone and the attack that Calvin had claimed had happened to his team… “Master?”

“Yes, Daniel?”

“Did you tell Philip that you were sending Calvin after the purple stone?” 

Theodore paused, thinking. “No.” He said, after a moment. “I didn’t. Now, how did he come to know that, I wonder?” Daniel didn’t have an answer for that, and Theodore sighed. He looked tired. “The world is a difficult place, sometimes, Daniel. Which I suppose you know already.” 

Daniel did, more than Theodore ever would. 

Theodore looked a little lost, and still upset. On impulse, Daniel stepped forward and hugged him around the middle. “Daniel?”

“I’m sorry, Master.” He murmured, stepping back. “It looked like you needed a hug, is all.” 

Theodore looked down at Daniel and smiled, surprised. “Come here.” He said, and he gathered Daniel up in his arms. His hug was possessive and tight, not like Marcus’s at all. Daniel hugged him back just the same, though. “We’re going to be all right, Daniel. There’s no cause for you to worry.”

Daniel wasn’t worried, or at least that was what he told himself. Theodore was the one who should be worried. But Daniel just smiled, held on to Theodore and said, “Yes, Master.”


	13. Plans Often Require a Great Deal of Patience

Daniel always woke up frequently throughout the night, for a few minutes at a time before falling back to sleep. He’d been like that since he was young, but ever since he’d been trained to be especially alert, it was a lot worse. 

When he woke up this time he paused, mentally shaking himself fully awake, trying to estimate exactly how late it was. 

Theodore’s arms were wrapped around him and, taking a breath, Daniel carefully extricated himself from the grasp, tensing a little when Theodore stirred. “Daniel?”

“I’m sorry, Master,” Daniel whispered. “I just…”

“You need the privy?”

“Yes, Master.”

“Go on, then.” Theodore let him go and Daniel slid off the bed, grateful for the dark. He didn’t need to hide his frustrated expression as he padded into the little privy that was off the bath room. 

He did need to pee, but it wasn’t a big enough issue to have forced him out of bed normally. But he’d been making himself get up every night the last several weeks, to accustom Theodore to his getting out of bed in the dark. He was never going to be able to retrieve that knife and use it on the Master if Theodore kept waking up every time he got out of bed. 

Daniel was starting to doubt, though, whether this would work. Theodore woke up most of the time when Daniel did, and didn’t seem to go back to sleep until Daniel was in bed with him again. There had been a few nights where he hadn’t seemed to stir, but Daniel hadn’t been sure if that was real or if he’d just been faking it. 

It was frustrating, to say the least. 

Daniel finished his business and washed himself off in the basin, before heading quietly back to the bed. On this, at least, he was pretty sure he was doing well. Theodore never seemed to hear him coming back, always raising his head only when Daniel climbed back onto the bed itself, like he did this time. That was a good sign, Daniel supposed. 

If only he could get out of the bed without Theodore noticing, he’d be good.

“I’m sorry to have woken you, Master.” Daniel whispered when he got back, because he knew Theodore would be waiting for him.

“It’s alright, I’m a light sleeper. As are you, I think.” Daniel got under the blankets and Theodore pulled him close, and Daniel could feel Theodore’s hardness against the back of his thigh. “I’m a little more awake than I’d like to be, admittedly,” Theodore murmured in Daniel’s ear.

“Can I help you with it, Master?” Daniel asked, because if he asked it made it seem like it was his idea and not something that Theodore would have done anyway. 

“Of course, Daniel.” Theodore was smiling, Daniel could hear it in his tone. 

Daniel knew that Theodore would happily have just rubbed against his thighs and backside until he came, but this late at night he’d simply hold Daniel like that and fall asleep, and Daniel knew from experience that he couldn’t sleep at all with the sticky mess all across the back of his legs. So instead, he wriggled out of Theodore’s grip, ducked under the blankets and moved down until he was between Theodore’s legs.

It was less mess this way, Daniel told himself as he found Theodore’s erection and gently held it in his hand, stroking it a few times. It was faster and he could control how much happened and when. It was better this way. 

He kissed Theodore’s erection lightly three times on the shaft, and then twice on the head, before taking it into his mouth slowly. Theodore stiffened, and Daniel kept going, sucking a little bit and licking a lot. Theodore had taken a lot of time to teach Daniel exactly how he liked this done. “Mm, Daniel…”

Daniel answered with a vague hum that had Theodore responding in kind. Theodore’s hand came down to rest in Daniel’s hair, not pushing him or anything, just resting there. Daniel kept going, holding Theodore in one hand and rubbing his inner thigh with the other. 

It was warm now, even at night, and under the blanket like this Daniel was sweltering, feeling like in the heat he could barely breathe. But he did, through his nose, as best he could while he worked. His discomfort didn’t matter—he didn’t imagine Theodore had even considered it as a possibility. 

He went further and further down, getting more and more of Theodore in his mouth as he did, sucking and licking all the way. Theodore was making little groaning noises as he did, and they got more urgent when Daniel, all at once, dove the rest of the way down, carefully relaxing his throat to let Theodore all the way in. 

Daniel counted in his head as he stayed there, stretching his tongue to get at every part of Theodore he could while making as if to swallow at the same time. “Daniel…” When he got to a hundred Daniel pulled up, almost all the way off, leaving just the leaking head in his mouth, which he lavished attention on for a minute before sliding all the way back down.

A few repetitions of that and Theodore was almost squirming. “Daniel,” he strained. 

Daniel resisted the urge to smile and pulled all the way off, letting Theodore pop out of his mouth and waiting for just a second, breathing on Theodore’s erection. Then he leaned in and kissed it right on the head and Theodore’s entire body tensed at once. Daniel covered the head with his lips as the first bitter spurt came out, and swallowed that, kept swallowing as Theodore shot more, scalding his mouth and throat. 

Daniel swallowed it all and came up for air only when he was sure Theodore was done, taking only a shallow breath of the stuffy air under the blanket. He gave Theodore one more kiss before climbing back up to emerge into the fresher air of the room, which he tried not to be too obvious about inhaling. At least there was no mess. “Thank you, Master.”

“Thank _you,_ Daniel.” Theodore said, sounding sleepy again. He pulled Daniel in and Daniel let him, nestling a bit with his back to Theodore’s chest. He could feel Theodore’s still-wet erection flagging now. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

Fuck some other boy, probably. But Daniel just held onto Theodore’s arm that was keeping him in place. “Me either, Master.” Daniel realized he was hard with a little bit of annoyance, but there wasn’t anything to be done about that now. If Theodore were to notice, usually he would do something, but that would defeat the purpose of sucking him off to minimize mess. 

“I could die happy if that were the last thing that ever happened to me,” Theodore muttered in Daniel’s ear. 

“I’m glad you liked it, Master,” Daniel lied, thinking that he’d make sure not to blow Theodore on the night that he killed him. 

“Goodnight, Daniel,” Theodore whispered, holding him tighter. 

“Goodnight, Master.” 

Theodore fell asleep almost immediately. It took Daniel quite a while to get there.


	14. Literacy Gives Us the Power to Experience Stories, and the Range of Emotions they Evoke

“At twenty,” Daniel read, face scrunched into a frown in his concentration, “Daniel came into the…att…” He stuck his tongue out a little, looking at the word that he didn’t know. He knew the letters, he just had to figure out how to say it. He’d come to realize that if he said the words out loud when he didn’t know them, most of the time hearing them would help. “Atten…tine…attention. Daniel came into the attention of the…ar…bit…arbitrator.” Daniel didn’t know what that word meant. He’d ask Theodore later. “Arbitrator of the…”

He was interrupted by the click of the door, and Daniel straightened, and then stood, setting the book down on the table as Theodore came into the room. “Welcome back, Master.” 

“Hello, Daniel.” Theodore smiled at Daniel, and then looked down at the book. “Ah, you were reading.” He sounded a little surprised.

“Yes, Master.” Daniel tried not to look sheepish. Theodore had told him over and over that he was allowed to look at any of the books in here. So Daniel had, since Theodore had left him in here all morning by himself while he went out to meet someone in the city. 

“Good, I’m glad.” Theodore crossed the room, gave Daniel a light hug and kissed the top of his head. “What are you reading?”

“ _The Lives of the Saints,_ Master,” Daniel said, picking up the book and showing it to Theodore.

“My goodness.” Theodore took the book from him, looking down at the page Daniel had open. “Ah, yes. _The Life of Saint Daniel._ ” He sounded both surprised and amused. 

“You said he was interesting, Master.” Saint Daniel hadn’t done anything particularly interesting so far in the story except for catch people in lies and make his friends stop fighting when he’d been young. He could also see demons sitting on people’s heads, but he hadn’t done anything about them yet. Daniel had only just gotten to the part where he grew up. “I wanted to see why.”

“This is quite a challenging read, Daniel,” Theodore said, smiling down at him. “You must be finding it difficult.”

“A little, Master,” Daniel admitted. There were probably easier books for him to read. But he wanted to read this one. 

“Just a little?”

Daniel nodded. “Yes, Master. Um…what’s an ‘arbitrator?’”

Theodore chuckled, sitting down in the chair Daniel had vacated and patting his lap for Daniel to sit with him. “An arbitrator is a person who settles disputes. In Saint Daniel’s case, it would have been someone whose job was to sort out whether someone had broken the law or not if someone were to be accused of a crime.” 

“Like a judge.”

“Somewhat, yes,” Theodore said, wrapping his arm around Daniel’s middle. “Though an arbitrator works for the church rather than the crown. We don’t have them any longer.” 

“What happened to them?”

“After the Flame War, Queen Maia the Great and the High Priest Julian the Pure decided together that it was best for the crown to worry about earthly law and the church to worry about heaven’s laws. So the arbitrators became the Orders.”

“Monks?” Daniel asked. That seemed like a funny thing for judges to go and become. 

“And nuns, yes.” As Daniel nodded, Theodore looked down at the book. “Would you like to keep reading?”

“No, that’s alright, Master. I can…”

“Nonsense, Daniel.” Theodore patted his head, and placed the book back in Daniel’s hands. “I taught you to read so that you could read when you wanted, not put the book down every time I walk into a room. You can keep reading, and I can help you if there are more words you don’t know.”

“Okay.” Daniel said, smiling a little despite himself. He wished Theodore wouldn’t hold him quite so tightly. “Thank you, Master.” He looked down at the book, taking a moment to find the place that he’d been at, and took a breath. “At twenty, Daniel came into the attention of the arbitrator of the town of Ash me…mead…Meadow.” That was a strange name for a town. “The arbitrator was slave of the Master of…Lies?”

“Yes.” Theodore nodded, resting his chin on top of Daniel’s head and looking down at the book. “It’s one of the names of the devil.”

Daniel supposed that made sense. “To the Master of Lies, but he walked in the gui…guise. Guise?”

“Like disguise.”

“Right. Guise of a holy man of the church.” 

_The Life of Saint Daniel_ was quite lengthy, as it turned out. Daniel soldiered through his trials after he was arrested several times on false charges, before finally exposing the evil arbitrator and taking his place in the town, settling all the disputes with God’s grace and light. 

Daniel never learned how to get rid of the demons that he saw on people’s heads, though, and it made him worry more and more as he realized that only by purifying them could people be able to get to heaven. 

“So, filled with gr…grief, the blessed Daniel barred the gates of Ash Meadow in the dark night, and he took to himself a torch, and he took fire to the gra…grai…ery. To the granary?” 

“The place where the villagers kept their food stores,” Theodore supplemented. 

Daniel nodded. “And he took fire to the granary and prayed to God to spread the flames of pur…purif…ication. Purification to the people of Ash Meadow. And God heard Daniel’s cry, and del…delivered the people from the demons, burning them all in the holy fire, casting the demons to hell and the people, in their suffering, were ele…vated. Elevated to heaven.”

“Elevated means brought up,” Theodore said quietly. 

Daniel only partially heard him, looking down at the words and trying to figure out how they might mean anything other than what they did. “He burned them all to death,” he whispered, feeling a little weird in his stomach. “The whole town. He barred the gates so they couldn’t escape.” 

“Yes, he did.”

“Why?” Daniel asked, even though he’d just read the story and he knew the answer. “Why did he do that? There must have been another way to get rid of the demons.”

“If there was, Saint Daniel couldn’t see it.”

“Because he had his eyes covered.” Daniel muttered, remembering the statue in Theodore’s dining room. 

“Perhaps,” Theodore agreed. “But it worked—he came up with an unexpected solution to his problem, and it worked. Somewhat like you, wouldn’t you say?”

Daniel shook his head. Did Theodore really think he was like that? He didn’t care what Theodore thought, Daniel reminded himself. But still. “No, Master. I…I wouldn’t do that. I wouldn’t burn a town down.” He could feel himself starting to cry. _Upset._ He told himself. _Sadness? No, something else._

_Fear?_

Would Daniel have burned down the town, if he’d thought it was the best way?

“No,” Theodore said, holding Daniel more tightly again. “You wouldn’t. I’m sorry, Daniel, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“It’s not your fault, Master. I’m sorry for…” He didn’t know what he was sorry for. 

“It’s fine. You’re entitled to your feelings. Perhaps I ought to have warned you that this was in the story before you read it. But, Daniel. It’s just a story. It probably never happened.”

“Then why is it part of the story?” Daniel wanted to know. Why would they include something so awful in the story of a saint?

“I don’t know. Perhaps the church felt that the message was important enough to keep in. It’s hard to say how stories get to be the way they are.” Daniel nodded, still feeling strange. “Would you like to keep reading?” Theodore asked him after a moment. “This is the most famous part of the story, but a lot of other things happen to Saint Daniel as well.” 

“No, Master.” Daniel shook his head, looking down at the book. “I’d…I’d like to stop reading for a while. I’ll finish it another day.” 

“Of course.” Theodore took the book from Daniel and set it on the table, and then put both his arms around Daniel, holding him in place. It was too hot for this, but Daniel was comfortable with the warmth, with the closeness, with another person. Even if it was Theodore. “Are you all right?”

Daniel nodded, but it was a lie. “Yes, Master. I’m sorry. It’s a silly thing to be upset about.”

“No, it isn’t, Daniel,” Theodore said quietly, kissing Daniel’s ear.

They sat there for a long while, and the whole time and for the rest of the day, Daniel couldn’t keep the question out of his head. No matter how many times he answered no, it kept coming back. 

Would he have burned down the town too?


	15. Very Few People Are Good or Evil, Most Are Morally Complex

Daniel rarely talked to the older slaves, and they seemed happy that way. They had little to do with him, or Marcus or Hugh, all five of them preferring to keep themselves. There was a pretty clear age division between the three of them and the five older boys, who were really better called young men. Daniel knew their names and not much else about them. It was obvious that Theodore was no longer interested in them. 

Which was why it was so surprising when Benedict knocked on the door that evening. “Will, Charlie, Darian,” he said. “The master wants to see the three of you in the sitting room.”

Daniel stopped, halfway to sitting when he’d heard the knock, looking at the door. What did the Master want with them?

He wasn’t the only one. Marcus looked confused too, and Hugh looked surprised, but he nodded to himself. Trevor and Al both looked upset. The three who’d been called just looked resigned. 

The older boys all stood, and there was a lot of hugging and talking in one another’s ears. Daniel looked at Marcus, who looked just as lost, and at Hugh, who didn’t say anything. 

“See you guys,” Darian said with a sad wave as he went to the door. 

“Good luck.”

“Be careful.” 

And that was that, all three of them left. Trevor and Al sat down on one side of the room, holding hands and murmuring at one another quietly. 

“What’s going on?” Daniel asked, a little confused.

“The Master’s letting them go,” Hugh said, keeping his voice down. 

“What?” Marcus asked. “Why?”

“He always does.” Hugh punctuated that with a nod. “I guess he hasn’t since you’ve been here. But he always frees his slaves eventually.”

Daniel blinked. “He does?” 

“Yeah. When we get too old.”

“When he’s not interested in fucking us anymore,” Marcus said, looking angry but sounding nervous and sad. 

“Yeah, I guess.”

“Where do they go?” Daniel had known, or assumed, that the eight of them weren’t the only slaves Theodore had ever owned. He’d assumed that Theodore did something when them when they got too old, sold them back to the slavers, or just to other people. Just passed them off to someone who wanted them. That was what slaves were, after all. Just a commodity to be passed around. 

“Wherever they want.” Hugh shrugged. “He gives them a bunch of money, some clothes and stuff. Takes off their collars. Then they’re free. They can do whatever they want. I think he sometimes offers them jobs working for him, but I don’t know how many of them take it. I mean—would you?”

Daniel wouldn’t. But he didn’t say that aloud. “That’s really…it’s nice of him.”

Theodore didn’t have to do any of that to slaves he was finished with. 

“Is it?” Marcus asked, scowling now. 

“I think so.”

“Hey, I can’t get it up to you anymore, here’s some money, get out of my life?” Shaking his head, Marcus huffed. “Seems, well it seems really cruel to me.”

“That’s because you’re still in love with him,” Trevor said from the other side of the room. It hadn’t occurred to Daniel that the two of them would be listening in, but it was a small space. Of course they had been. Marcus probably wasn’t trying to glare, but he did. “It is. In a few years when you’re over that and you’re just tired and want to get out, it’ll seem like a blessing. Will’s been sitting here for five years with nothing to do but watch as the Master replaced him again and again. It hurts, you know?”

Red in the face, wearing his own look of hurt, Marcus looked away. “Yeah, I know.” 

“At least he’s giving them something,” Hugh said, voicing what Daniel had been thinking. Daniel didn’t want to voice it himself—suddenly he didn’t feel totally welcome in this conversation. “He could just turn them out on the street with nothing. Or he could sell them, put them to work for him somewhere. At least he’s giving them something.”

“It still seems cruel,” Marcus muttered.

It didn’t seem cruel to Daniel—if anything, it really challenged his view of Theodore. If he were as heartless as he seemed, he’d might never release them from slavery. It didn’t change what he was or what he did to all of them, but, like wanting the slaves in Clement’s cages to have better lives, it was an example of Theodore seemingly going out of his way to help people he didn’t have to help. Granted, it was a problem he had the power to fix and instead was only mitigating a little, but at least he was doing that. And Daniel couldn’t help but ask himself whether that was something worth praising or not. 

Theodore wasn’t a good person, Daniel wasn’t ever going to question that. But did the fact that he wasn’t as awful as he could be mean something? Was it something worth taking into consideration before Daniel stuck a knife in his heart? 

If he killed Theodore tonight, what would happen to Marcus and Hugh, to Trevor and Al? They were still slaves, and would still be slaves if Theodore died. And they’d be distributed with the rest of his estate, maybe to masters who wouldn’t free them. Maybe to masters who wouldn’t do them the kindness—and Daniel did think it was a kindness—of just ignoring them and letting them live in his house and be taken care of once he was done with them. 

As far as the four of them here in the room with Daniel were concerned, was being Theodore’s slave really the worst thing that they could expect out of life? 

As far as any slave was concerned, wasn’t the world a better place if Theodore was in it? He’d been right on the first day Daniel had met him. It could have been a lot worse. It could have been some monster who bought him, who’d rape him and hurt him, and just sell him to a brothel or something when he was bored. 

Was the world a better place with Theodore in it?

Daniel didn’t have answers to any of those questions. And he didn’t know if he could really convince himself that killing Theodore was a good idea until he did. 

But then, did it matter if Daniel thought it was a good idea?

“Daniel?” 

Daniel snapped out of his mind, jerking his head towards Hugh. “Yes?”

“You look upset.”

“Sorry,” He said, trying to clear his head. Now wasn’t the time to be worrying about this. Later, when the others were asleep, or when he was with Theodore. “I was just thinking.”

“It’s not worth you worrying about it right now,” Hugh assured him, patting Daniel’s leg. 

“I know.”

“It’ll be a really long time before it’s something you really have to think about, I think.”

“Yeah,” Marcus agreed, and the bitterness that Daniel heard in his tone was not nearly as pronounced as it might have been. He just sounded sad again. “He still likes you.”

The implied ‘for now’ hung there in the air. 

Daniel nodded. “I know,” he said, both to the spoken comment and to the unspoken one. 

His window wasn’t going to last forever. Eventually Theodore would get bored. He may have all these new questions, but Daniel was running out of time to answer them.


	16. If It Doesn't Have a Solution, It's Not a Real Puzzle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh look another plot relevant economics lecture (I'm going somewhere with all of this, I swear).

“I’ve something for you, Daniel.”

“Master?”

Theodore smiled, produced from his pocket a strange little contraption that seemed to be made of thick wires. Daniel frowned at it. “It’s a puzzle. See if you can get the pieces to come apart without bending them.”

Daniel took the puzzle tentatively, turning it over in his hands, wondering why Theodore had decided to give it to him. They were sitting in the armchairs in Theodore’s bedroom, reading. Daniel had been reading, anyway, a book about dragons. One for children, and one he was still a little amazed he was having almost no trouble with. But now he looked down at the puzzle, trying to get a sense of how the pieces were fitted together. “Thank you, Master.”

“You haven’t asked me any questions in the last few days,” Theodore observed, watching Daniel give the puzzle some experimental tugs. 

“No, Master.” Daniel had been waiting for a good time. 

“You’ve a few saved up now, I think.”

“Three, Master.” He’d done that on purpose. Since it was clear that Theodore wanted to talk, he looked up for a moment. “May I ask one now, Master?”

“Of course.”

Daniel paused, following the shapes of the wires with his eyes. He felt his heartbeat pick up and made himself breathe slowly. If he looked nervous, Theodore would wonder why.

“Daniel?”

“What’s…” Daniel paused, thinking through the way he’d worded the question in his head one more time. “Why are those stones you bought from Pascal and Calvin so valuable, Master?”

Theodore went quiet for a moment, and Daniel looked up at him again. Theodore was looking down at Daniel, clearly thinking. “I believe,” he said, “that I probably ought to owe you another question just for that, Daniel.”

“I’m sorry, Master.”

“No, don’t be.” Theodore closed his own book—also on dragons, though harder to get through—and set it on the table, facing Daniel and folding his hands. “Do you know what makes something valuable, Daniel?”

Daniel didn’t. “No, Master.”

“There are a number of things that contribute. The first is how rare or difficult to obtain something is. Diamonds and gold are valuable because they aren’t everywhere, and it is a labourious process to get them out of the ground.” 

Daniel nodded, still working with the puzzle. He pushed a piece in and loosened another. 

“The second is what it can be used for. Cattle are valuable because we eat them, fabric because it is made into clothing. Third is _who_ wants it.” Theodore gestured at the wall, where a painting of some horses hung. “Artwork like that is valuable because wealthy people like myself want to have it, and so are willing to outspend one another in order to do so.”

The piece Daniel had loosened was now irrevocably locked around another piece. Daniel started working backwards. “Of course, value isn’t universal, Daniel, as I suspect you are thinking.”

Daniel hadn’t really been, but he nodded. 

“What is valuable to one person is not always so to another—for example, you are extremely valuable to me, far more so than the gold I spent to obtain you.” 

Focused on the puzzle, Daniel heard that a second late and looked up, feeling his face warm up as he watched Theodore. “Master?”

“It’s true. I daresay I value you far more than did your parents. No amount of money would convince me to part with you, Daniel.” 

Well, that was because Theodore wasn’t starving and Daniel’s parents hadn’t been having sex with him. Daniel was pretty sure he didn’t want to be valued for the reasons Theodore valued him. And Daniel thought about the older slaves who’d been freed, and wondered what amount of money they had parted from Theodore with. “Thank you, Master.”

Theodore smiled at him. “Similarly, some people wouldn’t value that painting up there, as it’s just oil on a canvas. On the converse, though we need fabric to wear clothes, some types of fabric are more valuable than others, because certain people want them, perhaps because they’re harder to get or more expensive.”

“So all of the reasons combine with each other,” Daniel said, locking the entire puzzle into place by mistake. He frowned down at it. If he could just move that piece a tiny bit…

“Yes. Not all three always apply and sometimes all of them do, but those are the general reasons. Of course, the ultimate reason why things are valuable is because someone has decided that they are to be valuable. Elsewise, why should any of us care who has the biggest pile of gold?”

Daniel nodded. That made sense, put that way.

“If you had to say, what do you think is the most valuable thing one could buy, Daniel?”

Freedom. Daniel didn’t even need to think about that. But he did, for a moment, working the pieces, trying to come up with something that Theodore would accept. “Wood,” he finally said.

“Wood?”

“Lumber, Master.” Daniel paused, glancing up at Theodore to see his expression. He looked thoughtful. “It might be easy to get, but it’s really important. We need a lot of it. I think the most important of those three things you said is what something can do, and we build everything out of lumber. We might decide to stop caring about gold tomorrow, but we can’t stop building things out of wood. Maybe stone, but then boats would sink. You can’t build houses from iron. We’re always going to need lumber and, well…” Daniel thought about it some more, carrying the thought all the way through. “I guess it’s easy to get, but there are only so many trees in the world. Someday they’ll run out.”

For a long moment Theodore didn’t answer, and Daniel stopped working on the puzzle to look up at him. Theodore was smiling to himself. “Yes, I hadn’t thought of that. Now that you say that, you are very right, Daniel. I think, for that, I owe you another question. Perhaps I shall invest in the forestry.”

Daniel couldn’t quite hide his smile. 

“Most people wouldn’t think that lumber was that valuable. And that proves my point that value is different for different people. And if we add that as a corollary to my third point, we get something important.”

Daniel thought about it for a second, sensing that Theodore wanted his guess. “Sometimes things are valuable to you because somebody else wants them.” Somebody like Philip. 

“That’s right.” Theodore sounded proud, and Daniel hated that that made him happy. 

Trying to move that once piece that short amount had created a tangle from which Daniel couldn’t escape. He stopped working with the pieces, just looking down at them and thinking about the way they were shaped. 

“But you didn’t know Philip wanted them when you started looking for them.” 

“Yes, that’s right as well.” Theodore was leading Daniel somewhere with this, but Daniel wasn’t sure where. 

“Somebody else wants them.” Daniel didn’t like being walked into having to ask another question, but Theodore would be annoyed if he just left it at that. “Who?”

“A man named Solomon. Not somebody you would know,” Theodore added, before Daniel could start thinking through all of Theodore’s friends. “Then, of course, your next question is…”

“Why does Solomon want them?” 

Theodore smiled. “Because of what they do.”

“You told Calvin they were dangerous.”

“They are.” 

Aha, Daniel thought, realizing what he had to do. “What do they do?”

“They are very powerful magical weapons that can make magic practitioners who use them exceedingly strong.” 

Daniel suddenly really, really wished that Theodore hadn’t let Gideon know he had them. 

“What does Solomon want to do with them?”

“What would you do with them if you had them, Daniel?” Theodore asked him quietly.

“I’d throw them in the ocean so nobody could use them.”

“Wise as well as clever.” Theodore looked sad for a moment. “He doesn’t want to throw them in the ocean, Daniel.”

Daniel nodded, and moved a piece, and the puzzle came apart in his hands, the pieces separating nicely. 

“Well done. I tried to get it apart for an hour before giving up. Would you like to ask one more question?”

Daniel very much did, and the consequences of it be damned. “Were you telling Calvin the truth when you said you wanted to put it on a shelf and never let anyone use it?” It was all well and good for Theodore to want to keep the stones away from this Solomon, but Theodore wasn’t someone Daniel wanted having that kind of power either. 

Maybe it was Solomon who’d paid for Daniel’s training. 

Theodore smiled one more time, giving Daniel a long look. “Yes, I was. I believe that’s the best thing to do with dangerous things.”

“Me too, Master,” Daniel said, fiddling with the pieces of the puzzle. Yet another thing that Theodore was doing that was for the good of the world. If he was telling the truth, that was. Keeping something so dangerous where it wouldn’t be used seemed like a noble thing to be doing. Especially since Daniel could easily foresee someone wanting to hurt Theodore to get the stones. 

Maybe that was why he was here. Maybe he was the one who would be hurting Theodore to get to the stones. 

“Come here, Daniel.” 

Daniel did as he was bid, came and sat on Theodore’s lap. Theodore put an arm around Daniel’s middle and held him in place, and took the puzzle pieces in his free hand, looking down at them. “I suspect you spent quite a long time wanting to ask me that question, didn’t you?”

“Yes, Master.” There was no point in denying it. 

“You needn’t be afraid of me, Daniel. I’m sure you must know that by now.”

“I do, Master.” Daniel wasn’t afraid of Theodore. “I’m not afraid.” He was afraid of what would happen if he didn’t manage to kill Theodore. He was afraid of what would happen if he did.

“Good.” Theodore gave Daniel a kiss on the ear. “I’m so glad you’ve come to me, Daniel. I’ve never met anyone I enjoy being with as much as you.”

That struck Daniel like a punch to the stomach. How many people had ever enjoyed being with him?

But it didn’t matter. Theodore was lying anyway. And Daniel could lie right back. “Me either, Master. I’m glad to have met you.”

And he was, in a perverse way. Because if he hadn’t—if he hadn’t met Theodore, Daniel’s life, like the lives of so many others, would be measurably worse than it was right now. 

And that was a puzzle Daniel couldn’t figure out.


	17. The Ability to Say Yes Makes Everything So Much Better

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Daniel is, for once, given the choice about who gets to touch him.

“You just going to pout the entire time he’s gone?”

Daniel looked up from where he’d been counting flecks in the floorboards. “I’m not pouting.”

“You are,” Marcus accused.

“I’m not.”

“Marcus is right.”

Daniel glared at Hugh. He didn’t feel that this warranted them ganging up on him. “I’m just bored.”

Marcus rolled his eyes with a snort, and Daniel turned his glare to him instead. “You didn’t really think he was going to take you with him, did you?”

“Of course not.” Theodore had gone on a trip to White Cape to inspect his new ships now that they were complete. He’d been gone for two days and was likely to be gone for two or three more. 

“It’s nothing you did, Daniel,” Hugh assured him.

“I know. Slavery’s illegal in White Cape. It would have made problems if he’d brought me. And…” Daniel trailed off. 

“And what?”

“He’s going to the city docks, to look at the boats he’s having built. That’s, um, where I was born.” 

“Really?” Hugh had been laying on his back, looking up at the ceiling, but now he rolled over to see Daniel better.

Daniel nodded. “There’s a dockside slum on the south end of the harbour. It’s where my family lives.” Or at least it was where they had lived before they’d sold him. Maybe they didn’t anymore, though Daniel thought it was unlikely that they wouldn’t have stayed. 

Now they were both looking at him. Hugh got up on his knees and patted Daniel’s bare shoulder. “You okay?”

“Yes.” Daniel nodded. “I’m…a little relieved I didn’t have to go.” He felt bad, but it was true. Daniel wasn’t sure what he would have done.

“I would be,” Hugh said, patting Daniel one more time. “He’ll be back in a few days.”

“So stop pouting. It’s embarrassing.” 

“I’m just bored,” Daniel repeated to Marcus. He was telling the truth. With Theodore gone, there was nothing for him to do except sit in this hot little room and sweat. He’d spent most of the day helping the servants out with chores just for something to do, and for an excuse to be in a room with windows. He had managed to sneak in an hour of tumbling practice in an empty room just before supper, but hadn’t dared press it any longer than that no matter how much Gideon’s face loomed in his mind. 

Trevor and Al had snuck away to sleep outdoors tonight, and even though Daniel was worried about what would happen when they got caught, part of him thought he should have gone with them. None of them were wearing anything except their collars because it was too hot even for that.

“Are we not interesting enough to hold your attention, Daniel?” Hugh asked him, smiling so Daniel would know it was a joke.

“That’s not what I meant.” 

“It’s totally what you meant. You’re mean, Daniel.” Marcus was grinning at him. “I don’t think we can be friends anymore now that you’ve hurt my feelings.” 

Daniel knew how to play this game too. “You have feelings?” he asked, with a cheeky smile. “Don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll pass soon.”

“Listen, you little shit.” Marcus moved a little clumsily, and Daniel read it immediately and let it happen. Soon he was in a headlock and Marcus was rubbing a fist into his scalp. “Teach you some manners.”

“I didn’t know you had those either,” Daniel said around giggles, from his place under Marcus’s arm. Marcus was stronger than he looked, actually. 

Hugh laughed. “Just keep making it worse for yourself, Daniel.”

“I’m not sure how it could be worse than being stuck under Marcus’s arm. You know someone invented soap, right?”

“You’re sweaty too, shithead.” 

While Daniel had been talking, though, he’d worked an arm around Marcus’s back, and now got at Marcus’s side with his fingers, tickling him. “Crap, Daniel!”

It was too late, though. Marcus’s grip on him loosened, and Daniel lunged with both hands, tickling fiercely. Marcus fell back, laughing, and Daniel straddled him to get better access, merciless. “Fuck you,” Marcus managed, between laughs.

“Manners, Marcus,” Daniel said, enjoying himself now.

“Okay, okay, okay,” Marcus panted. “Stop, stop.” 

Daniel did, though he didn’t move, letting Marcus catch his breath. But as soon as Daniel straightened, Hugh’s arms were under his, holding him in place and pulling him backwards. Marcus surged up and it was Daniel getting tickled now, not able to escape.

Well, a distant part of his mind knew he could escape, but not without hurting Marcus or Hugh. 

Hugh pulled him backwards and Daniel ended up half laying, half sitting on him while Marcus got on top of both of them and kept tickling, his hands moving up and down Daniel’s sides and over his belly, and Daniel couldn’t stop laughing. 

Suddenly Marcus was a lot closer, pressed down against him, and he kissed Daniel. 

All three of them fell silent, went still. Daniel wasn’t laughing anymore. Marcus was looking down at him as if he wasn’t sure what had happened. 

Daniel’s collar was heavy around his neck. 

Hugh broke the silence. “No fair,” he complained. “Marcus, I’ve been trying to get you to kiss me for a year. But you kiss Daniel the first time you’re close enough?”

“Whatever,” was Marcus’s response. He was red in the face, and he wasn’t alone. Daniel chose to blame it on the heat. 

He also chose to pretend that he didn’t realize, physically speaking, how much all three of them had clearly been enjoying that tickling session. Suddenly the fact that Marcus was not moving at all was very…frustrating. 

“Um.”

“It’s okay, Daniel.” Hugh assured him, extricating his arms from Daniel’s and wrapping them around him normally. “He’s not going to get mad.”

That seemed unlikely to Daniel. “How do you know?”

“He told us when he left to make sure we took care of you. That was what he meant.”

Marcus nodded on top of Daniel. “He doesn’t care what we do with each other.” He rolled his eyes. “He probably gets off on it.”

“How come I never knew that?” Theodore had never said anything about this to Daniel.

“Because you spend all your time with him,” Hugh reminded him gently. “It’s okay. You won’t get in trouble and neither will we. He might ask you to tell him about it, though. Which he’ll also get off on, trust me.”

Daniel didn’t want to tell Theodore about this. Whatever this was. But he guessed he wouldn’t have much of a choice, since Hugh and Marcus were here too and they would likely tell him if Daniel didn’t. “Um.”

“Hugh and I don’t own you, Daniel,” Marcus said, drawing him back to reality before Daniel could start thinking. “You’re allowed to say no to us. I mean.” He smiled. “Part of you is saying yes, but if the rest of you says no, we’ll stop.”

Part of Marcus was saying yes too, and Hugh too. And maybe it was just because it was because he was naked and sweaty and hard and sandwiched between two people he liked who were also naked and sweaty and hard, but Daniel was having a hard time coming up with any reason why the rest of him shouldn’t also say yes. 

So Daniel nodded. 

Marcus leaned in and kissed him again, for longer than second this time. It was nice, very nice. When Theodore kissed Daniel it was always hungry and possessive even when he was being gentle, and Marcus was a little domineering but not at all in the same way. He pushed Daniel back a little, into Hugh, one hand stroking Daniel’s hair as they kissed. Marcus seemed perfectly happy to just kiss him without any input from Daniel, and that alone was impetus enough for Daniel to kiss back, and suddenly it was faster and deeper and Marcus was moving on top of him. 

Hugh slid a hand in between them and Daniel felt it close around him and Marcus both, pressing them together, stroking them as they moved into each other. Feeling Hugh rubbing against his lower back, Daniel snaked his arm around behind himself and grabbed Hugh on his second try, feeling Hugh hiss in his ear before his breath picked up to a series of pants that filled his hearing. 

They were both of them hot, so hot, and Daniel didn’t know if he could handle it, he was going to overheat. Marcus’s lips were hot on his, and Hugh’s breath was hot in his ear, and Hugh’s hand and Marcus’s fingers and both of their bodies were enveloping Daniel, wrapping him in their heat. It was nothing, _nothing_ at all like when Daniel was with Theodore. 

Daniel came with a gasp that had him inhaling Marcus’s breath, and as he did Hugh let out a strained little noise in his ear, and he as well came all up Daniel’s back and hand. Marcus stopped kissing Daniel and buried his face in Daniel’s shoulder as he came as well with a quiet cry. 

They fell apart, Marcus sliding onto the floor and Daniel leaning sideways, needing to breathe a little. The stuffy air of the small room felt a lot fresher all of the sudden. Hugh leaned back against a wall and Daniel ended up laying sprawled across his lap, Marcus laying on his back with his feet near Daniel’s head. 

“Your feet smell bad,” Daniel muttered, letting the happy buzz fill his head for a while.

“Shut up.”

Hugh giggled. “You still bored, Daniel?”

Daniel smiled at the ceiling. “No. I guess not.”

“Good. Me either. He won’t be home for a few more days.”

“I’ve never done that with anyone before,” Marcus said, not looking at them but fiddling with his collar. “I mean, not with anyone I wanted to.”

That, Daniel thought, was something important for Marcus to have admitted. That he hadn’t wanted to be with Theodore.

“Me either,” Daniel told him. 

“It was…I liked it.”

Daniel nodded.

“That’s why I’ve been trying to talk you into it for a year, asshole,” Hugh sighed. 

“Yeah, yeah.”

This was not a comfortable lying position. Daniel shifted so he wasn’t across Hugh’s legs anymore, sitting up against the wall beside Hugh instead so the mess on his back didn’t smear onto anything. “You okay, Daniel?” Hugh asked him. 

Daniel nodded. “I’m okay. Are you guys okay?”

“Of course we’re okay, dumbass,” Marcus grumbled, sighing. 

“Um…” Daniel paused, a thought occurring to him. He realized too late that he didn’t want to say it out loud, though. 

“Spit it out.”

“Just…we’re friends, right?”

It felt silly, saying that. It was a silly thing to ask. Of course they weren’t friends. They were only here together because of Theodore. None of them would have anything to do with each other if it weren’t for him. 

Daniel expected awkward silence at best. But he was surprised. “Of course we are,” Hugh told him. 

“Yeah.” Marcus sounded a little more tentative, but he still said it. “We’re stuck here together, aren’t we?”

Daniel couldn’t help the honest, open smile that came to his face at that. “Yeah, we are.” He closed his eyes, not caring at all how hot or stuffy the room was. Because he was in here with his friends. His friends. He had to protect them. Save them. “Thank you, both of you.”

“God, you kiss him for five minutes and he gets all weird.”

“He was already weird.” Hugh patted Daniel on the shoulder. “Don’t oversell yourself, Marcus.”

“Guess I’ll have to kiss you too and prove it.”

“Guess you will.”

Daniel just sat there and listened to the two of them, not able to stop smiling. He would have given anything, just then, to have this, just this, the three of them, forever. Friends.


	18. Sometimes It’s Important to Speak Your Mind No Matter the Consequences

“A message for you, sir.” 

Daniel looked up as Benedict handed Theodore the folded letter, quickly averting his eyes again to the bowl of crab soup in front of him. Theodore took the letter and nodded, and Benedict stepped back and out of the dining room, leaving the two of them alone. Theodore always insisted that they servants all leave when they were eating together. 

As Theodore opened the letter, Daniel carefully didn’t watch him, instead spooning more crab soup into his mouth. It was a lot more watery than the usual soup, and Daniel liked it quite a bit more. 

“Your curiosity is palpable, Daniel,” Theodore said, not looking up from the letter. 

Daniel stopped eating. He was curious, that was the truth. But he’d been hiding it just fine. Or he’d thought he had been. “I’m sorry, Master.”

“Don’t be. You needn’t hide your curiosity from me, Daniel. It is something I like about you, and encourage.” Theodore looked up, smiled at him. And he handed Daniel the letter. 

Daniel took it, putting his spoon back in his bowl. 

_Master Theodore,_ Daniel read, trying not to move his lips as he figured out the words, _your proposal has me intrigued._

“In…trig…intrig-ued.” That didn’t sound like a word Daniel knew. 

“Intrigued,” Theodore supplied. “It means interested.”

“Oh.” Daniel knew what ‘intrigued’ meant. He just didn’t know how to spell it. “Thank you, Master.”

_I must, however, repeat what I said in our meeting. I feel your offer would deprive Merket of a necessary service and you would quickly find yourself out of business were you to attempt changes to the current way of running the slave market. Distasteful as you may find it, it is the case that cats will always chase mice, and there will never be a shortage of mice. Someone must provide those mice, or what will the cats eat? I therefore must decline your offer and request that you not try to convince me further._

The letter was unsigned. 

Daniel finished reading it through after a few minutes, and realized he’d been tapping his fingers on the table. “It’s from Clement, isn’t it?” he asked, after a moment of thought. 

“Yes, that seems to be the case. What do you make of it, Daniel?” Now Theodore sounded curious. “I have thoughts, but I’m interested to hear yours first.”

“I don’t understand why he sent you a letter to tell you the same thing he already told you before.” As Daniel said that, though, he thought about what the letter said, face scrunching a little in a frown. Confusion. “Except…”

“Except that isn’t what he said before, now is it?” Theodore sounded amused, now. 

“No.” Daniel shook his head. “Before he just told you he wasn’t interested. He never said anything about his market being necessary for the city.” 

“Indeed. He also didn’t say that we’d be out of business quickly if we tried. Which would suggest that…”

Theodore had trailed off expectantly, so Daniel nodded. “That someone else will just start up the same business again if you stop this one.” He felt a little sick to his stomach now, and wished he hadn’t eaten so much. He’d known that someone wanted Clement’s market to run the way it did, but with that much intention… “But…if he’s telling you that now, isn’t he lying when he says he doesn’t want to talk to you about it anymore?”

“Yes, I expect so. I think his having said that is meant to tell me that he _does_ want to hear from me again—under the right circumstances.”

“Once you’ve figured out a way to get him away from whoever’s making him run the market that way,” Daniel guessed, looking down at the letter. “The cats.” 

“Exactly.” Theodore nodded, took the letter back from Daniel. “And he’s done us the courtesy of telling us who it is that we have to deal with, as well.”

“Master?” Daniel hadn’t noticed that. 

Theodore smiled at him. “Not something I’d have expected you to notice. The mention of cats and mice. The city guard here in Merket are not infrequently referred to as alley cats by those who see them as not much better than common thugs—but thugs who keep the worst of the city’s rat population under control, at least.”

Rats, Daniel guessed, must mean people like his family. “So it’s the city guard, then.”

“Or someone in their upper ranks, at least. That seems more likely that the whole guard being that corrupt. I think we’re to look at their commander, Wendell Tyrane, or perhaps one of their captains. I believe there are five at the moment.” Theodore lapsed into thought. “One freshly promoted, Abigail Greentide.”

That was a noble’s name. “If she’s new, she’s the least likely to be the one you’re looking for.”

“I agree, but that also means she’s the best candidate to help us find out who’s responsible.” Theodore nodded. “I believe I’ll arrange to have dinner with her.”

_Worry._ Daniel thought that if she was the kind of person who would want to stop whoever was making Clement do what he was doing, she was also the kind of person who wouldn’t trust Theodore. After all, Theodore liked children too, even if Daniel and the others were a little older and treated a little better than Clement’s slaves. 

“Master.” Daniel nearly bit his tongue off at that. He’d spoken without fully thinking through what he needed to say. 

“Yes, Daniel?” Theodore smiled at him. 

“I think…that you should be careful talking to her. She might…” Well, he’d committed to saying this now. “If she doesn’t know you, she might think that you’re like Clement. I think you should ask one of your friends to talk to her instead.” 

There was a heavy silence for a moment as Theodore watched Daniel, expression guarded. “Yes,” Theodore said after a moment. He nodded. “I believe you are right, now that you’ve said that.”

Daniel just nodded. 

“You’re shaking.” Theodore observed, and Daniel was, a little bit. “It must have been hard for you to make yourself say that aloud.” 

“Yes, Master. I’m sorry.”

“You were worried I’d be cross with you?”

Not able to make himself look up, Daniel nodded again. 

“I’m not. It was a good observation to make, and I’m not one to be angry with people who’ve said intelligent things, even intelligent things that I don’t like to hear. My…proclivity for boys your age is known among many circles in the city, so you are right to point out that it might hinder my attempts to shut down Clement’s enterprise. Now that you’ve pointed it out, I do wonder if Clement’s haste in dismissing me last time was partially motivated by that as well.”

“It may have been, Master,” Daniel admitted, though he wasn’t sure. 

“Perhaps I ought not to have brought you.” Theodore chuckled. “But then I’d be dead, wouldn’t I? No, I’m pleased with how this has gone so far. Once again, you’ve given me a new perspective on a problem.”

A perspective that wouldn’t have ever occurred to Theodore because Theodore didn’t pause to consider the feelings of his slaves, Daniel told himself, instead of letting himself be proud. 

“I shall enlist Georg and Cassiopeia, I think.” Theodore nodded. “I’m very proud of you, Daniel.” 

“Master?” Now Daniel looked up. 

“For being willing to speak your mind about that. Normally I need to prod your thoughts out of you, but this time you gave them without my urging. And on something you feared I might become angry about. I’m very proud.”

Daniel was just trying to stop countless slaves from being raped. If that meant speaking his mind when he probably shouldn’t, then so be it. If that meant helping Theodore get what he wanted, then so be it. “Thank you, Master. I just want to help.”

“You have, a great deal. I must think of a way to reward you.”

The only reward Daniel wanted was this collar off his neck. 

“In the meantime, however, I shall contact my friends and explain the situation to them. I’m sure they would be willing to help. I wonder if Gideon might be able to lend his services as well…”

_Shit._ Daniel needed to get Theodore to see that was a bad idea without explaining why. That was going to have to wait until he’d thought it through a little more, though. He really didn’t need Theodore alerting his would-be killers of anything that they didn’t need to know.

And that aside, for everything that had happened, Daniel trusted Theodore much farther than he trusted Gideon. And that, when he realized it, terrified him.


	19. Many a Moral Conundrum Has Been Cut Short By an Ultimatum

“Everything I know suggests that Greentide isn’t corrupt—or at least that she’s less corrupt than most,” Georg said to Theodore, tapping his plate with his fork. “If we approach her the right way, I don’t see that there will be any issue with convincing her to work with you on this.” 

“I am a little curious as to why you care, Theodore.” Cassiopeia had been skeptical about this from the start and hadn’t hidden it, and even now Daniel could hear it in her voice. “I mean, what Clement is doing down there is terrible, don’t get me wrong, but this kind of humanitarian cause has never been your usual fare.” 

While Daniel thought of stones gathering dust on a shelf and wondered if Cassiopeia was right about that, Theodore smiled at her. “I see a problem and I have a way of solving it,” he said, with a small inclination of his head. “Perhaps I haven’t had the best record of making the world a better place, but I do like to try when I know it’s possible to succeed, at least.” 

“That’s a lot of words for something that isn’t an answer to my question.”

Theodore kept smiling, though Daniel read that he was annoyed. Cassiopeia’s tone was bothering Daniel too, though he thought her question was fair. 

“Slavery is a reality of the world,” Theodore said after a second, reaching out and briefly touching Daniel’s arm. They were all sitting in the dining room and Daniel was standing beside Theodore, having finished serving the food. “That doesn’t mean that it must necessarily be horrendous. The unfortunate young people who have been sold into slavery deserve better than what happens to them in Clement’s cages.”

A month ago Daniel wouldn’t have believed for one second that Theodore really thought that, but now he thought that maybe he’d been wrong about that. He knew that making money was Theodore’s main motivation, but he could have done that in a thousand different ways, and he’d chosen to do it in a way that would help a bunch of people. 

Now it was Cassiopeia’s turn to smile. “You don’t have to convince me, Theodore. It just seemed a little out of keeping for you, is all.” 

Theodore nodded, glancing over to the door when Benedict came in with the main course of their lunch. Theodore put his hand on Daniel’s arm again, looking up at him from the chair. “Gideon always manages to appear just when the food is served. Would you go greet him at the door, Daniel?”

“Yes, Master.” Try as he might, Daniel hadn’t been able to find a way to convince Theodore that he needed to leave Gideon out of this. He couldn’t even bring it up without having to tell Theodore why he didn’t like Gideon, and he couldn’t do that. The closest he’d been able to come had been to say he didn’t understand why they might need help from a wizard, and Theodore had just told him that it was always useful to have magic on their side when possible. 

Their side, he’d said, rather than his side. 

Daniel left the three of them alone with Benedict and made his way out to the front hall, wondering again why Theodore was having him greet Gideon instead of Benedict. He could have served the food just fine. 

Maybe it was just that bringing someone into the dining room was beneath Benedict, but Daniel didn’t think so since that seemed to be his job. He was starting to think that maybe Benedict didn’t like Gideon and so Theodore tried to keep them apart, or something. 

He didn’t waste a lot of time thinking about it since it wasn’t something he could answer, and soon Daniel was at the front door, waiting for Gideon, trying to control his heartbeat and breathing as he did. 

True to Theodore’s prediction, a knock came at the door not a few seconds later, and all Daniel did was look up at the sound. He pulled the door open and stepped aside to let Gideon in, looking at the floor. “Good afternoon, sir. My Master is waiting for you in the dining room.”

“He did promise there would be lunch,” Gideon said, stepping past Daniel and into the house. He’d added a bit of blue to his hair and had more bracelets on than Daniel remembered. “I’m sure he told you to bring me there, so don’t let me stop you from doing as he said. Lead the way, intrepid one.”

It wasn’t the things Gideon said that bothered Daniel so much as the way he said them. He always sounded like he was making fun of Daniel. Even when he’d been training them before Daniel had come here, Darwin had always seemed like he was telling himself a joke that nobody but him could hear. 

But Daniel just nodded, keeping his gaze on the floor, and headed towards the dining room. 

“So what errand does Theo need run for him today?” Gideon asked as they walked. “More dangerous artifacts to authenticate? Or did someone try to poke some new holes in him again?”

“The Master is planning a business venture that he wants your help with,” Daniel said, not looking up. 

“Oh?” Gideon tilted his head at Daniel. “And what business venture is that? I’m not much of a money-grubber.”

“I don’t know. I’m just a slave.” 

“That sounds like a lie, Danny.” 

“If you’re displeased with my behaviour you should tell my Master. He will punish me appropriately.” 

Gideon snorted. “I’m sure.” 

Daniel heard a whisper of metal and leapt to the right, spinning as he did to avoid the knife Gideon had just pulled on him, slashing out in an arc that would have taken him in the head. “What are you doing?” Gideon didn’t answer, just slashing back, and Daniel jumped again, this time to Gideon’s left. Gideon kicked out at him and Daniel stepped back to avoid it, batting Gideon’s leg away.

Gideon lunged with the knife, and when Daniel ducked to avoid it his chest met Gideon’s other hand and he was thrown into the wall with a hard thunk, spun around to face it and pinned with his left arm behind his back. “You’re disappointingly bad at this,” Gideon told him casually. 

“It’s not like he’s going to pull a knife on me in the hallway!” Daniel growled, making himself not struggle and just going still while Gideon held him. Gideon wasn’t stupid enough to loosen his grip, unfortunately. “You could have killed me just then.”

“That’s true, at least you were good enough to avoid that. Would have been tricky to explain to poor Theo.” Gideon was holding the knife in his free hand. He was a fair bit taller and heavier than Daniel, so he wasn’t going to be able to force him off. “Guess I could have just told him I found a killer in his house.”

“And ruin all the work you people put into getting one here?” Daniel demanded, closing his eyes and trying to figure out where Gideon had pulled that knife from. He’d had it under his clothes, and Daniel tried to picture what he’d looked like when he’d come in. His usually baggy tunic and pants, big on him to hide anything he had under. A bit of a fold in the shirt, where he’d probably had the knife. Another one…Daniel frowned. Had that second fold been there on Gideon’s leg or was he just hoping it had been?

“For all the fucking good it’s done us, Danny,” Gideon said, tapping the knife against the back of Daniel’s neck. “Theo is still very alive, which is the opposite of what we’d like for him to be.” 

His heart was racing but Daniel could feel every beat, and he seemed to himself to move in slower time as he let his unpinned arm fall to his side, swing back to Gideon’s leg. He found the fold, where he’d thought it was, and slipped two fingers inside it as Gideon made a noise, curled them around the hilt of a second knife. Daniel pulled the knife into his hand, slashed out behind himself as Gideon leapt away.

Gideon’s face was a mask of surprise but Daniel didn’t give him a second to recover, pushing off from the wall and aiming the knife right at Gideon’s belly. Gideon managed a parry with his blade, and Daniel pulled back, aiming his next strike for Gideon’s fingers. Gideon spun and rather than following him Daniel went to where he was going to end up, slashing upwards and nicking Gideon on the cheek even as Gideon’s blade grazed over his shoulder. 

Gideon yelped a little and suddenly Daniel was slammed back against the wall, and held there by something he couldn’t see. Gideon was holding his free hand out, and for a second Daniel could see his eyes, cold as death. But his usual mocking smile returned a moment later. “Now, _that_ was good. Makes me think you were worth training after all. You’ll have a career as an assassin if you want it after this.” He was bleeding from a cut on his cheek. 

Daniel knew that, he knew he was good. He didn’t need to be told. Pushing down the strange feeling in his stomach at that, Daniel just glared at Gideon even as Gideon’s magic wrenched his hand open and made him drop the knife. “What are you doing?” he demanded. “Someone could have seen you.”

“But they didn’t,” Gideon answered with a shrug. “What are _you_ doing, Daniel? It doesn’t take this long to stick a knife in someone. You can keep that one if you really need one.” As he spoke, he reached up with a hand and put it over the cut on his face. There was a brief shimmer and when Gideon dropped his hand, the cut was gone. 

“I have one.” Daniel looked away. 

“Then use it. What’s the problem?”

“There’s no problem,” Daniel lied. 

“Good. Because the powers that buzz are getting impatient and they’re taking it out on me.”

Now Daniel looked back up at Gideon, trying to see past the joking. Was that worry in his face? “Why don’t you just kill him, then?”

“Not my job. It needs to be one of his slaves who does it. You think we couldn’t have just put an archer on a roof and put an arrow in his eye if we wanted? There’s a specific way they want this to play out, don’t ask me why because I wouldn’t tell you if I knew.” Gideon let out a long sigh, let Daniel down from the wall and picked up his other knife. Both knives disappeared into his clothes. “But they want him dead soon more than they want whatever image they’re going for. You do it, or someone else will and you know what happens to you then.”

“I know.” Daniel rolled his shoulders, pretending that his muscles didn’t hurt from being slammed into the wall. He was shaking a bit from the adrenaline, and tried to bring that under control with a breathing technique he knew. 

One Darwin had taught him, actually. 

“Say it out loud, Daniel.”

Daniel flashed a glare at Gideon, but he huffed a little and did as he was told. “I’ll be a slave forever. I’ll be part of Theodore’s estate and given to someone else, and I’ll never have the chance to escape.” Chances were he’d be given to someone worse than Theodore. Maybe he’d end up in one of Clement’s cages. “I _know_ , Darwin.” 

“Then do it soon, Daniel. I don’t want to hear about a plan, I don’t want to hear an excuse. Because you might end up someone’s slave forever, but the other possibility is…” Gideon reached out, ran a finger along Daniel’s neck. He stepped back when Daniel shivered. “They don’t like liabilities.”

“I’m not a liability.” Daniel suppressed the spike of fear he felt. 

“Then stop fucking around,” Gideon told him, eyes going cold again. “Because there’s only two ways it ends for you if Theo still has a pulse next time I come by, and neither of them are good. Nobody’s coming to save you. So save yourself before it’s too goddamn late.”

And with another sigh, Gideon turned away and started heading towards the dining room. 

“Darwin.”

“Don’t call me that, kid.”

“Are you trapped too?” 

There was a long silence between them, and Gideon stopped walking. He didn’t look back at Daniel, and stood stock still for a long minute. He slumped a little. “We’re all trapped, Daniel. Every one of us. Doesn’t matter if you wear a collar or not.” 

Daniel nodded, thinking about that. Who were these people?

He just led Darwin to the dining room, letting the silence between them stretch on as they walked. When they got there, Daniel put his hands on the door to open it and paused, his other hand coming up to the collar, brushing fingers over it. He looked up at the young man whose name he didn’t know. “Yes, it does,” Daniel said quietly. 

The young man’s expression was unreadable for a moment, and Daniel gave him a minute to get himself under control before he pushed the door open and stood aside, letting him into the room. “Theo!” Gideon called. “And Cassie and Georg, too. How can I lend my countless services today?”

Expression neutral, Daniel followed him in and quietly went to stand behind Theodore’s chair. Theodore smiled up at him and Daniel smiled back, and then Theodore went into explaining to Gideon what he was trying to do with Clement’s market. Every so often he would reach up and brush Daniel’s arm with his fingers, but all Daniel could feel was his own heartbeat.


	20. Moments of Truth Are Hard on Liars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been waiting for this for a long while now.

Theodore slept, but Daniel didn’t. 

He was laying on Theodore’s chest, Theodore’s arm wrapped around him. Both of them were still damp from their bath near an hour ago, and Daniel was still sore from Theodore’s cock before that.

He liked that he was sore. It reminded his body that this wasn’t normal, it wasn’t something that was supposed to happen to him. If it didn’t hurt, that would mean he was getting used to it. 

Daniel wasn’t getting used to it, and tonight was the last time it would ever happen. The last time anyone would ever touch him like that. The last time Theodore would ever touch him—the last time Theodore would ever touch anyone. 

Tonight was the night that Daniel was going to kill Theodore. 

Theodore’s breathing had long since gone soft with sleep, but Daniel had lain on top of him for a long while, just making sure, just running through his plan one more time. It was a pretty straightforward plan. Finally, he took a bit of a breath—not a deep one, he didn’t want to alert Theodore that anything was off—and lifted his head from Theodore’s chest, then pushed himself the rest of the way up when Theodore didn’t react. 

Daniel slid from the bed, moving off into the privy like he always did at night. Even sleeping, people could have an awareness of their surroundings, and if Theodore noticed that something was unusual, Daniel was going to miss his chance. A gap in the curtains let a streak of bright moonlight into the room, but Daniel was grateful for the total blackness of the privy. 

One more time he went through it in his mind, how he’d do it, how he’d get out through the balcony, how he’d sneak through the grounds and off of Theodore’s property, where he was supposed to meet his employer who would arrange for him to be out of the city by dawn. He had it all memorized, down to the details, but Daniel went through it one more time, just to make absolutely sure for himself that he hadn’t missed anything. 

He relieved himself, washed his hands. Took a deep, quiet breath. He could do this. He _would_ do this. He had to, or else everything, all the training, everything that had happened—not just to him but to all the others whose freedom had been wasted in this whole effort—everything would be a waste. It would all have been pointless. Daniel tugged a little at his collar. He refused to let it be pointless. 

The world was going to be a better place without Theodore in it. Daniel was going to make the world a better place. He nodded to himself in the dark, took one more steadying breath, and left the privy, re-entering the moonlit bedroom in silence. 

He padded over to the bed silently, crouching to reach under the bedside table where he’d hidden the knife. Earlier in the evening he’d loosened it from its hiding place and it lay on the floor now, in order to be quietly removed. Daniel picked it up, held it firmly in his hand. He thought of the countless boys who’d been in this room, in this bed, and clutched the knife hard to will his hand to stop shaking. He had to do right by all of them. He couldn’t let all of them have suffered for nothing. 

Theodore didn’t sleep close enough to the edge of the bed that Daniel could comfortably reach him standing, so he climbed back into the bed, tensing a little when Theodore shifted. Shifted, but didn’t wake up. Daniel climbed on top of him sat straddling him, holding the knife in his hand. Breathing.

Theodore slept on underneath him, unknowing. Breathing. 

He was a monster. It didn’t matter how human he looked in the moonlight, how vulnerable he looked asleep in his bed. He was a monster and the only way to protect people from a monster was to kill it. 

Daniel raised the knife, aimed to come down onto Theodore’s heart. In just a minute, Theodore would be dead. In just a minute, the world would have one less monster in it. 

In just a minute, Daniel would be free. 

In just a minute, all of those slaves in Clement’s cages would lose their chance at any sort of better life. 

In just a minute, the magical stones that Theodore was keeping from dangerous people would be unprotected. 

In just a minute, Marcus and Hugh would be part of Theodore’s estate. Slaves for the rest of their lives. 

In just a minute, Daniel would be _free._

_Nobody’s coming to save you. So save yourself before it’s too goddamn late._

His hand was shaking around the knife, and he had to use his other to keep it steady. Tears stained Daniel’s cheeks, blurred his vision of Theodore laying there. His muscles tensed and untensed, and his breath came in hisses that he tried to keep quiet. Blood rushed in his ears and all through his body and Daniel could feel it, everywhere. Pounding. 

Theodore’s collar weighed _so much_ around his neck. 

To get himself under control Daniel squeezed his eyes closed for just a moment. He heard a sob in the room and only after a second one followed did he realize it they were coming from him. He had to do it now, he had to do it now, before Theodore woke up. Before Theodore heard him and woke up and kept him chained up forever. He had to do it now, he had to stop thinking about anything else and stab the knife down into Theodore’s heart _right now_ before it was too late.

He had to stop thinking about everyone else and think about himself. The world would be a better place without Theodore in it, it would. He had to _stop crying_ like a baby and do what he’d come here to do, _right now, Daniel_.

“Daniel.”

Daniel jerked, eyes snapping open, blurred vision focusing on Theodore, who was looking up at him in the dark. “Why are you crying?”

“I…” Theodore had to see. He had to be able to see the knife. He sounded so worried when he asked that, though, like he really cared about Daniel. He always sounded like he cared about Daniel. Did he really care about him? Did this monster really care about Daniel?

If he did, he would be the first person who ever had. 

“Daniel?”

“I…I don’t know,” Daniel sobbed, shaking all over. 

“I have a guess,” Theodore said, hand coming up and closing around Daniel’s wrist. “It’s because you’re about to try and do something that you really don’t want to do. You’re about to make a decision that you know is wrong.”

“No.” Daniel shook his head as Theodore’s grip tightened on his wrist. “No, I…” He shouted wordlessly, moved to ram the knife down into Theodore’s chest, into Theodore’s heart. To kill Theodore. 

But Theodore’s hand on his wrist was too strong, and it stopped him before he got far enough. The knife couldn’t reach. Daniel couldn’t do it. Theodore wasn’t going to die. 

It was all pointless, all of it. Everything had been a waste. He couldn’t do it. And now it was too late. 

“Let go of the knife, Daniel.”

Letting out loud, heaving sobs, Daniel did as Theodore told him. Shame and anger and fear and failure coursed through him, filling his soul as he cried. Theodore took the knife and tossed it aside, and he sat up with Daniel in his lap. Hugged him. “It’s all right, Daniel. You’re all right.”

“No.” Daniel shook his head, trying to pull out of Theodore’s hug and failing. “No, I’m not.” 

“Yes, you are. You’re going to be okay.” He didn’t sound surprised. Theodore sounded like he’d expected this. 

He’d known. How long, it didn’t matter. He’d known Daniel would try this. 

So _stupid_. Daniel had fallen for it, let Theodore trick him, let Theodore play him. He was so stupid. 

“I…” Daniel hiccoughed, bringing a fist up, banging it against Theodore’s shoulder. “I…” 

He was a failure, worthless. Not worth the time they’d taken to train him, not worth the money they’d spent on him. At least his parents had made a nice sum of money selling him. That was all he was worth. All he was good for. His value was as someone’s bedslave, and now that was all he was ever going to be, because he hadn’t been able to stab a knife. _You’re so useless, weak, stupid…_

_Useless._

_Weak._

_Stupid._

_Slave._

“I hate you,” Daniel cried, pounding his fist against Theodore’s shoulder, again, and again, and again. “I hate you, I _hate_ you.”

“Shh…I know you do, Daniel. I know.” His voice was so quiet. Theodore’s voice was so calm, and quiet and caring. And worried. Daniel had just tried to kill him and Theodore was hugging him, patting his back, worrying about him. Why? Why was he so…

“I hate you so much.” _Useless, weak, stupid._ “Just…die…” Daniel’s breath caught on that last word and he degenerated into wordless bawling. 

Theodore held him. Daniel cried and cried and kept crying until it all caught up with him and he fell asleep, not knowing where he was going to wake up or if he was going to wake up, and Theodore held him the whole time.


	21. Moving On Is Harder Than Just Sitting in One Place

_Two hundred silver pieces._

_That was what he was worth, two hundred silver pieces. That was what he’d been bought for, what all of them had been bought for. Two hundred silver pieces each._

_He’d been sold for eighty, negotiated down from a hundred. Profit all around._

_The cart bumped and rumbled; they wouldn’t have been able to help from bumping into each other, banging, touching each other even if they hadn’t been huddled together for warmth and a security that didn’t exist. Five of them huddled in that trundling cart, naked as the day they’d been born._

_Except none of them had been born with iron collars around their necks._

_Boys, the man who’d bought them had only wanted boys. That hadn’t gone unnoticed; as he’d been led out of the cage he’d had a few jeers from the older boys in there, saying a nice hard fucking would make him less of a crybaby pretty quickly. That he’d look good with cum on his face. That he’d learn to like it, he looked like he was made for it anyway._

_He hoped they all died. He couldn’t help it if he’d been crying._

_But so many of them, he had to wonder. Maybe they wanted them for work, or else why so many of them? It made more sense to him that they were going to be digging in a mine or building a barn or tending to cattle. Or working in a brothel._

_The cart ride went on for hours, interminable on the bumpy road, huddled together, smelling of dirt and sweat and fear. He wanted a bath. He was probably never going to have a bath again, just buckets of cold water to rinse him off when he smelled. Maybe not even that. Maybe he’d be dirty for the rest of his life._

_Bradley, Roderick, Pascal, Greg, Daniel. Five of them, huddled up together in this dark space, too small for them, waiting for the endless cart ride to end. Dreading what would happen when it did._

_He knew he was dreaming. This had already happened, and he knew what happened when it ended. He knew he was dreaming, because he hadn’t known their names yet, not when they were in the cart. That had been after._

_After, when the cart had stopped, and the doors were thrown open. Blinding afternoon light flooded into the room, making them all cover their eyes even as they tried to look right into it. “All right, all of you out, let’s move.”_

_They did as they were told. They were slaves, of course they did as they were told. They didn’t do it quickly, and some of them ended up being pulled out, roughly. Some of them weren’t slaves yet, not in their heads. Just in body. Even back then, he’d known the difference._

_With a few new bruises on his back, he stood there with the others in a line. The man who’d bought them standing there, pacing up and down. Impassive as he looked down at all the shivering, naked boys in front of him. He was square and unshaven, with eyes that always seemed to squint. They were on some cold grass in front of what looked like a large manor home, bigger than any house he’d ever seen._

_“Welcome to your new home, boys. You should all know how lucky you are—we’re not going to put you to dig in a mine and we’re not going to put you in someone’s bed and make you spread your legs. Not yet, anyway. We’re going to train you for something important. And if your luck holds, you won’t be slaves forever. I’m Chance, but you’ll call me ‘sir.’ Your names, all of you. You first.” Chance pointed at the first boy in the line._

_“B-Bradley, sir…”_

_“Roderick.”_

_Chance wasn’t a person’s name, he thought. Not a name that parents gave to their son. He wondered if someone had given it to him later in life or if he’d picked it himself._

_“Pascal…”_

_It didn’t matter, he figured. It didn’t matter what his real name was. They were here, and they were going to do whatever Chance wanted them to do. It didn’t matter._

_“I’m Greg.”_

_“You?”_

_He didn’t look up from the ground when Chance stopped in front of him, didn’t answer the question._

_And got cuffed across the face for it. “Answer the question, boy.”_

_“Daniel!” he said, shouting it without meaning to. He could taste blood in his mouth. “I’m Daniel, sir.”_

Daniel wasn’t always clear on the difference between waking and sleep the last few days. His head was throbbing, which he took as a sign he wasn’t sleeping anymore. He was huddled up in his corner, the one he’d claimed when he’d been brought back to the little room the morning after, the one he’d barely left since then. His head was against the wall, had been the whole time he was asleep. That was probably why it hurt. 

He didn’t want to be awake. If Daniel had his way, he’d just sleep all the time. 

But Daniel didn’t get to have his way. He was a slave. Mind and body. 

Theodore hadn’t said anything to him the next morning. He’d just told Daniel to get dressed and go to the little slaves’ room. And Daniel had done as he’d been told. He’d just come here like a mindless sheep, sat down in the corner and not talked to anyone. Stared at the floor. Thought about what he’d done wrong. Wondered how long it would take Theodore to decide what to do with him. 

The others knew, or at least they knew that something had happened. They were quiet, whispering around Daniel. Marcus gave him sad looks sometimes, and Hugh smiled at him and told him he’d be okay. Daniel wasn’t sure which one he hated more. There was a plate of food near his feet, some bread and cheese, a little tin cup of water. Marcus kept telling him he needed to eat at least a little. Daniel wasn’t hungry. 

“We need to say something to him,” Hugh’s voice drifted over to Daniel. He was being quiet. 

“Nothing we can say is going to make him feel better,” Marcus answered. “You know that.”

“I know, but we can’t just let him starve himself to death.” 

“He won’t.” 

Hugh sighed. There was silence for a moment. “He’s awake.”

A moment passed, an hour passed, Daniel couldn’t measure time. Hugh and Marcus got up and sat in front of him. Hugh took Daniel’s hand. “Daniel. I know you don’t believe me, but you’re going to be okay.” 

Daniel nodded dully. Assuming Theodore kept him alive, he’d be fine. He’d just be like Marcus and Hugh, existing here in the house. Either that or he’d be executed. That would be fine too. 

“This isn’t what you want to hear. But I want you to hear it. It gets easier. And we’re here for you. We know what you’re feeling.”

“No, we don’t,” Marcus said, shaking his head. Hugh scowled at him, but Marcus shook his head again. “No, we don’t. It’s different for everyone. We don’t know what you’re feeling. But we know it sucks. And Hugh’s wrong. It doesn’t get better.”

“Marcus.”

“Lying to him isn’t going to help him,” Marcus told Hugh before turning back to Daniel. “It doesn’t get better. But you get better at carrying it.” 

Hugh sighed, pushed the plate forward a little. “Eat something, please.”

Daniel didn’t want to. But what Daniel wanted didn’t matter. He took a piece of cheese off the plate, bit into it and chewed dully. He couldn’t taste it. 

“It might help if you talked about it,” Hugh offered, tentatively. 

Daniel shook his head. He couldn’t. He couldn’t tell them what had happened. 

“Okay.” Hugh gave him another of those little smiles. “But when you’re ready to, if you’re ready to, we’ll listen.” 

Marcus had moved, and was now sitting beside Daniel. He pulled Daniel closer to him, ignoring that Daniel tried to resist that. “You can’t keep your head against the wall, you’ll hurt yourself. Sit here.” He pulled Daniel’s head onto his shoulder instead. 

“Thank you,” Daniel said, voice hoarse. He hadn’t said anything in days. He closed his eyes, holding back tears. They were being so nice to him. 

“Just be sad, Daniel,” Marcus said quietly. “It’s okay to be sad.”

Daniel nodded. They wouldn’t be this nice if they knew what had happened. If they knew he’d tried to kill Theodore. If they knew he’d failed. Failed himself, failed them. “I screwed up.”

“No, you didn’t,” Hugh told him. “It wasn’t your fault.” 

“Yes, it was.” He couldn’t hold them back. The tears started to fall. _Crybaby._

“It wasn’t, Daniel. I promise.” Marcus sounded so sure. He shouldn’t be so sure. He didn’t know what had happened and Daniel couldn’t bring himself to tell him. 

It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair for him to let them comfort him after what had happened. But Daniel was selfish and the world wasn’t fair. So he let them, and didn’t tell them why he needed it, so they wouldn’t stop. 

Daniel sat there and cried, huddled in his corner with his friends. 

He couldn’t feel it, but the collar on his neck was still there.


	22. Friends Help You When You Need It

_“You’re worthless.”_

_On the floor, Daniel coughed, tasting blood in his mouth. “That’s because you’re not f…”_

_A kick to the ribs. “You’re about to say the F-word to me, aren’t you, kid?” Chance asked, looking down at Daniel. “The world isn’t fair. Stop expecting it to be.”_

_Daniel nodded. He knew that much for sure. But he didn’t know how being repeatedly punched by someone three times his size was supposed to help him learn to fight._

_“Get up. You!” Chance pointed at one of the other boys. “Get over here, your turn.”_

_“You actually teaching them anything here, Chance?” A new voice called. A young man was standing in the doorway of their training room, leaning against the wall in loose-fitting black. He didn’t look impressed. “Or are you just taking our own inadequacies out on a group of little boys?”_

_Chance gave the newcomer a glare. “You’re late.”_

_“Time is fake.” The young man wandered into the room, looking around at all of them. Beaten, battered by their training. They were supposed to be learning how to fight, but mostly they were learning how to take punches. “This is his plan?” The man asked, shaking his head. “The grand master fucking plan.” A long sigh. He looked at Chance. “Go away.”_

_“I’ll supervise your lessons.”_

_“No, you won’t. Fuck off.”_

_There was a staredown for a long minute, between Chance and this new man. The new man won, and Chance stormed off grumbling. Daniel hoped they weren’t all going to be punished for it later._

_“Stand up, all of you,” the man ordered._

_They did, some more slowly than others, some more hurt than others. But he waited, standing there in the middle of the room, looking around at them. He was long in the face and his eyes didn’t match. “Did they tell you why you’re here? What they’re training you for?”_

_Silence. After a long time, Pascal gathered up the courage to nod. “They want us to kill someone.”_

_“That’s right.” The man nodded back. “They do. And they probably haven’t told you fuck all about who or why, but that comes later anyway. Chance probably told you you’re assassins, killers.” He must have seen a nod from someone, because he shook his head. “You’re not. You’re just a bunch of scared, naked little boys who are too stupid to realize you’re being used.” He sighed, looked around at all of them, at the wide eyes, the shock, the anger he’d gotten in reaction to his little speech._

_“Hopefully we can train you up so that at least some of you have a chance to do something with your lives other than spend them being raped. You can call me Darwin, and I’m going to teach you all how to dance.”_

Daniel’s head was in Hugh’s lap when he woke up, which it hadn’t been when he’d fallen asleep. 

“You have to stop telling him that it’s not going to get better, Marcus,” Hugh was saying in a quiet voice. 

“And you have to stop telling him that you understand how he feels,” Marcus shot back just as quietly. It sounded like they’d been arguing for a while. “It’s not true.”

“I’ve been through it too.”

“Not the same way, Hugh.” Marcus sounded sad. “You said that to me too and it didn’t help. And I’m sure the guy before you must have said it to you too, but it wasn’t true. He doesn’t hurt us all the same way. You don’t understand how he feels.”

“Maybe not,” Hugh growled. “But he needs to understand that he isn’t alone. The guy before me never said it to me, Marcus. Denny hung himself from a lamp bracket after Theodore got bored with him and acquired me, so I never even knew him.” 

There was silence for a good while after that. “I didn’t know that.” 

“That’s because we don’t fucking talk about it. Daniel’s taking this harder than either of us did, and I don’t want him deciding to kill himself because he thinks he’s alone. So I’m going to make him understand that he’s not alone.” Hugh sounded a little choked up. Daniel hadn’t meant to make him worry that much. 

“Okay…just, go a little easier on him? I’m worried that you’re making him feel like it’s happened to all of us so it’s no big deal. It’s a big deal, Hugh.”

“I know.” Hugh sighed, patting Daniel’s hair. “I just want to know what he did. Theodore seems mad about something. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him mad at one of us before.” 

Well, at least Daniel had accomplished something that didn’t usually happen, he figured. Even if he’d played the game exactly according to the rules otherwise. 

He didn’t want to listen to any more of this, so he stretched, blinking his eyes open as if he’d just woken up. “This isn’t where I fell asleep.” 

“You were having a nightmare or something,” Hugh told him. “You were tossing and turning a lot. I thought it might help.”

“Thanks,” Daniel muttered, sitting up and rubbing his head. “You guys don’t have to waste all your time worrying about me.” He was feeling a little better. Still like he was worthless and wanted to die, but a little better than before. And he hadn’t meant to make them worry as much as they both obviously were. “I’ll be okay.”

“Don’t do that. Of course we’re going to worry about you, Daniel.” Hugh said, shaking his head. “We’re friends, right?”

“Yeah. So don’t say dumb shit. You’re…” Marcus glanced at Hugh. “You’re not alone, okay?”

“I know,” Daniel said with a small nod. The three of them were here together, since he’d failed to free any of them. “I know. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. And speaking of not being alone, you’re coming with us.” 

“What?” Daniel asked, looking from Marcus to Hugh. Obviously something they’d discussed while he’d been asleep. “Where?” He didn’t want to leave the room. 

“The bath. You smell bad.”

Daniel frowned, sniffed the air. “I do not.”

“You haven’t had a bath in a week,” Hugh told him. “Take it from us. Come on.”

“Guys, I don’t feel like…”

“We don’t feel like smelling you anymore, so too bad.” Marcus stood, hauled Daniel to his feet and made him put his loose shirt on so the three of them could go out into the hallway. “Come on, it’ll be good for you.”

With no choice, Daniel let them pull him out into the hallway. He couldn’t help but look around nervously, as if Theodore might be standing there waiting for him. But he wasn’t there, of course, and they never saw him the whole time they were out of the little room. 

Daniel wasn’t sure if he was happy about that or not.


	23. Nobody Likes Being Faced with the Consequences of Their Actions

_It was scary, terrifying, the first time._

_It wasn’t the first time Daniel had seen a dead body so he’d thought he might be less sensitive to it than some of the other boys. But it was the first time he’d seen a body go from living to dead, and so suddenly, so abruptly. All it took was a slip of the hand and suddenly they were one less person._

_Darwin was silent for a minute as he looked down at the broken body of the fallen boy. When he looked back up at the rest of them, clinging to the rock wall for dear life, terrified, shaking, his gaze was dispassionate. “I told you all to be fucking careful, didn’t I? This is what happens if you fall.”_

_Darwin looked away quickly, stalking off to go yell for Chance._

_Daniel looked down at the body, more afraid than he thought he’d ever been. Even in the cages, even when he’d been sold. The idea that some of them could die, that all of them could die, that anyone could die, had always been there in the back of his mind, he knew that death existed. But now it was real. All it took was a moment of clumsiness, a moment of distraction, and that was it._

_It was stupid, pointless. A pointless death for a pointless slave._

_And Daniel didn’t know what scared him more, the possibility that the same thing could happen to him, or the nagging little thought that it was better that way._

_He didn’t know how long they hung there, on that wall where they were learning to climb, looking down at what had been a person just like him only a few minutes ago. Daniel had talked to him this morning. Now nobody was going to talk to him ever again. He wanted to throw up, or cry, or scream. But he couldn’t do any of those things, he couldn’t move. So he didn’t, and he just felt cold._

_They heard footsteps coming into the room and Daniel looked away from the body, back to his next handhold. He started climbing again as he heard Chance muttering about wasting two hundred silvers, kept going as they removed the body. It would probably just be dumped in a ditch or something outside, nobody cared what happened to the body of a slave._

_Daniel kept climbing, feeling cold._

“Daniel, Daniel, you’ve got to wake up, buddy.” 

That was Marcus, gently tapping Daniel’s cheek in a very gentle way that Daniel had started to realize wasn’t out of character for him. He really was very nice, and he’d had good reason to dislike Daniel when Daniel had first arrived. “Marcus…I’m tired.” Marcus should know that. Daniel was always tired. 

“I know. But Benedict just knocked on the door. Theodore wants to see you.”

Daniel jerked awake, sitting up with a spike of cold terror in his belly. He shook his head. He couldn’t, he couldn’t see Theodore. 

“I know,” Marcus said, hand on his shoulder, before Daniel could say anything. “But you have to, Daniel, you know that.”

Daniel closed his eyes, took calming breaths. This was it. It had been bound to happen eventually. Maybe Theodore would just kill him and be done with it. “Okay. Okay.” He stood, found Hugh holding out his shirt, pulled it on. “Thank you.”

“It’ll be okay, Daniel,” Hugh told him, giving Daniel a hug. Daniel nodded, holding Hugh a little tighter than strictly necessary. 

When they were done, Daniel hugged Marcus too, lingering for a second. “We’ll be here when you get back, Daniel.”

“I know,” Daniel said, nodding. He let go of Marcus, stepped back, took a breath, and headed for the door. 

Benedict was waiting outside, and when Daniel pulled the door shut, he said, “I’m to escort you to the dining room.”

Daniel nodded quietly, and he followed after Benedict without a word. He wondered if Benedict knew what had happened, if Theodore had told him.

The house seemed larger, more daunting than it ever had before as they walked the familiar path to the dining room, and Daniel tried not to look much at it, just keeping his eyes on the floor where the eyes of a slave belonged. The doors to the dining room creaked open, and Daniel walked under the angelic façade, wondering if angels even existed. 

There was a small circular table set up in the centre of the room, with two chairs, two place settings. Theodore wasn’t here yet. “Wait here,” Benedict instructed, and he closed the doors behind Daniel, leaving him alone with the tall saints’ statues. 

Daniel was fidgety and didn’t want to sit at the table. _Nervous._ He wandered into the room so he wasn’t in the doorway, looking at the statues. Ignoring the table and what it meant, if it meant anything. 

He ended up in front of his statue, the statue of Saint Daniel, eyes covered, torch held aloft. Daniel looked up at it, at him. He looked anguished. Was this before or after he’d burned down Ash Meadow, Daniel wondered. Was he crying out for fear of what he was about to do, or at what he had already done? Daniel wasn’t sure it mattered.

“You’re a horrible person,” Daniel whispered to the statue. 

Saint Daniel had nothing to say in his own defence. 

A month ago, he’d have paced this room front to back, memorized everything in it, the placement of everything on the table, judged how he’d get out in any number of situations, as he passed the time waiting for Theodore. But none of that mattered now, so Daniel just stood there, looking up at Saint Daniel’s face, trying to guess what he was thinking, trying to figure out how someone like him got made a saint. 

When the doors opened again, Daniel didn’t look over, as much as he wanted to, as much as he was afraid to. He kept looking at the statue. 

Theodore’s footsteps stopped at the table, and Daniel heard him pull back a chair, sit. He didn’t say anything. Daniel didn’t turn around. Another moment passed, and a cart came in, the footsteps following it sounding like Benedict again, and there was a clattering at the table was set. 

When Benedict retreated, Theodore continued to sit there in silence after the doors had shut. Daniel waited, and then realized he wasn’t sure what he was waiting for. This was only going to go one way. He could be petulant, act like a child and refuse to go sit, or he could try to behave like a person for a few minutes. 

So Daniel turned, went and took the second chair quietly, looking down at his plate. There were crabcakes on a platter in the middle of the table, but Daniel ignored them. There was a spoon and fork beside his plate, but no knife.

“Two days ago, a wealthy merchant here in Merket was killed,” Theodore said, cutting into his crabcake. “By a young slave of his who stabbed him in the eye.” When Daniel didn’t say anything, trying to swallow the lump in his throat that the sound of Theodore’s voice had brought on, Theodore continued. “The slave was caught a few hours later, flogged and beheaded in Harper’s Square. His name was Pascal, a young blonde boy about your age with a series of distinctive birthmarks on his back.” 

Daniel felt himself go cold, and he closed his eyes, picturing Pascal. He’d been a nice boy. Now he was dead.

“I see I don’t need to ask if you knew him. Curious.” Theodore bit into his lunch, chewed for a moment. “I don’t believe in coincidences, Daniel.”

With a breath, Daniel opened his eyes again. “You shouldn’t.” Bradley, Roderick, Greg, Daniel. There were only four of them left now. 

“Do you remember what I said to you on the first day that we met?”

Daniel did, he had a very good memory. “You said a lot of things.” That wasn’t the first day they’d met. It was the day Theodore had bought Daniel. 

“I told you never to lie to me. And now, six months later, I’m forced to wonder if you ever told me the truth.”

“That’s not what you said,” Daniel said quietly, looking at the spoon now.

“Excuse me?” Theodore sounded annoyed, just slightly. 

“You didn’t tell me not to lie to you. You told me you wouldn’t allow me to lie to you. But then you did.” Daniel wasn’t sure why that mattered. 

“Ah, so it’s my fault for not making my instructions clear enough, then?” Theodore sounded amused now. Daniel hated it when Theodore sounded amused, it always seemed like he was being laughed at. “I suppose my failure to explicitly order you not to attempt to murder me was the reason why you did, then? Eat something.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“It wasn’t a request.” 

Theodore wasn’t going to force-feed him. But Daniel hadn’t eaten today. So he took a small crab cake and started cutting it with his spoon. 

“So it was the whole time, wasn’t it?” Theodore asked after Daniel had taken a bite. “That you were planning that? From the first day you came to live here, you were planning to kill me, weren’t you?”

“I didn’t come to live here,” Daniel told him, voice a monotone. He’d thought he’d be scared, but once he’d sat down, Daniel had found that he couldn’t feel much of anything. Either Theodore was going to have him flogged and killed, or he wasn’t. And Daniel wasn’t sure he cared either way. “You brought me here. It wasn’t my idea.”

“You’re a slave.”

“I’m a _person._ ” Daniel looked up at Theodore for the first time, glaring fiercely. Theodore looked tired, a bit wan. 

Theodore smiled at him, sadly. “And I’m not, I suppose. Just a monster who preys on young boys.”

Daniel looked back down. It wasn’t him who’d said it. 

“Except I think you wonder if I’m more than that, else why did you hesitate that night? You could have killed me before I woke up.” 

That one hit Daniel like a punch to the stomach, and he took another bite of crabcake, the hand holding his fork shaking a little. Maybe he wasn’t as numb as he thought. 

“It’s funny how some things only become clear in retrospect,” Theodore said. He liked to hear himself talk, so Daniel let him. “All those traits I admired in you—how observant you were, your problem-solving skills, your memory, how you managed to overpower that thug who tried to kill me. You didn’t want to kill me because of anything I did to you; you were trained as a killer, weren’t you?”

“Not a killer,” Daniel said, swallowing. “Just a slave. A scared, naked little boy who’s too stupid to realize he’s being used.” 

“Used by whom?” Theodore’s tone was emotionless. 

Daniel didn’t answer right away, thinking. He couldn’t answer that question. He could tell Theodore about Gideon, but that wasn’t an answer. 

“Daniel.”

“I don’t know,” he said finally. 

Theodore sighed, contemplated him for a long time. “I’m disappointed,” he said, and Daniel hoped that his flinch wasn’t obvious. “I really thought you were clever enough to realize that you were better with me than anyone else.”

“I’m not as smart as you think I am.”

“Clearly. Nor as smart as you think you are.” Theodore put his fork down with a clink. “Do you remember what I told you about dangerous things, Daniel?”

Daniel nodded. “You want to put them on shelves where they can’t be used by anyone.”

“That’s right. You advocated throwing them in the ocean, as I recall. But we shall go with my impulse on this one, I think. I’m not going to have you killed, Daniel, mostly because I think you’d prefer if I did. You’re going to stay living here in my house, as my property, where you can’t hurt anyone. I’ll be replacing you in my bed, which perhaps you’ll appreciate. You will keep looking down, keep quiet about what happened and live the rest of your life as a slave.” Theodore took a breath, paused for a second. “If you can’t do that, if you hurt someone else or try to hurt me again, I shall sell you to Clement or someone like him. Do you understand?”

Daniel nodded. The threat of being sold to someone like Clement was unexpected, and had rocked him a little. He hadn’t thought Theodore was capable of that. He felt weird. Empty.

“I asked you a question.” Theodore’s voice was hard in a way it never had been when talking to Daniel.

“I understand,” Daniel whispered, feeling suddenly lost. He felt like his collar was choking him.

“Good. I don’t believe you when you tell me you don’t know who hired you, Daniel. I will give you some time to reconsider your answer to that question. If you manage to come up with one, you may find that your quality of life will improve a little.” 

“I told you I don’t know,” Daniel insisted. He was…he was _scared_ of Theodore, Daniel realized suddenly. Scared of how much power Theodore had over him. Scared of what he might do. He never had been before.

“You’ve given me very little reason to assume you’re not lying.” Theodore took a breath, picked up his fork again. “You may go now.” 

It was a dismissal so abrupt, so final that Daniel could do nothing but hear it, stand up. Without looking at Theodore he headed for the door. He put one foot in front of the other, feeling numb again but not nearly in the same way as before, and pulled the door open. 

For one second Daniel paused, risked looking back up at Theodore. He was sitting there eating, as if he were the only in the room. He didn’t look up, didn’t glance in Daniel’s direction, didn’t even seem to know Daniel was there anymore. He’d made Daniel invisible, just a part of the house, a piece of furniture, a bauble. Just a slave. 

Daniel left the room, pulled the door shut behind him. He just stood there in the hallway for a long minute, trying to will his heart to beat, trying to remember how to breathe. And he couldn’t. 

He walked, automatically, not aware of anything but how much his chest hurt. He didn’t know how long it took, to walk from the dining room to the little slaves’ room, but at some point he was back there, realizing as he pushed the door open that he didn’t want to go in there, didn’t want to see them, didn’t want to see anyone, if he say anyone he might…

“Daniel,” Marcus said softly, looking up when the door opened. He looked so worried. Hugh looked upset too. Both of them watched Daniel carefully. Even Trevor and Al looked worried. 

Daniel took a step inside, intending to just sit down and go back to sleep. But Marcus came up, took his hand, not saying anything, and Daniel felt a tear slide down his cheek, squeezed his eyes shut to stop more, failed. And he started crying into Marcus’s shoulder, overwhelmed by the feeling that he’d lost something important, something vital, something that had made him who he was. And that it wasn’t coming back.


	24. Part of Recovery Is Accepting Help from Others

_“Most assassins are just thugs,” Darwin told them, dispassionate, as they stood arrayed in front of him. “Just some asshole with a knife or a crossbow who needs money. Usually they’re retired sellswords or washed out soldiers or knights or what have you.”_

_“Like Chance,” Bradley risked. He had a tendency to talk when he shouldn’t._

_Darwin flicked his gaze at him. “Yes, like Chance. A real assassin can easily kill a man like him. I’m not good enough to teach you to be like that.”_

_“You seem good,” Roderick said._

_“That’s because you suck. We’ve brought someone on who’s going to show you what good is.” Darwin nodded towards the door, where there was someone who hadn’t been there a second ago. A woman, dressed in white, light hair framing her face. She was tall, and when she walked into the room, Daniel found himself suppressing a shudder. She was frightening._

_“They’re older than I was told,” she told Darwin._

_“What you were told isn’t my fault.” Darwin shrugged. Daniel wondered how he managed to stay so calm._

_“If you wanted to turn children into assassins, you should have bought younger ones. This was a waste of twenty thousand silvers—they’re too old.”_

_Daniel glanced around at the other boys. He’d never been called too old before. He liked it about as much as being called too young._

_“They’re what we have, lady. You going to earn your exorbitant fees or not?”_

_The woman smiled at Darwin. “I shall. I am merely warning you that I can only do so much with them at this age.” She turned her gaze away from Darwin, and to them. She flicked a finger at Daniel, one at Bradley. The biggest and smallest boys in the room. “You two. Fight.”_

_“What…”_

_“That is the last time I will allow you to disagree with me without punishment. Let me see what I have to work with.”_

_Her tone was so commanding that Daniel turned, faced Bradley, who was a lot bigger and a lot stronger than him. He smiled apologetically at Daniel before raising his fists._

_Bradley ran at him. Daniel jumped to the side, hoping to get behind him or something. It didn’t work. Daniel got punched in the stomach and fell down. Bradley stepped back._

_The woman’s sigh filled the room. “I see. Well, let’s see what we can do with all of you. You may call me Ursula, but I prefer ma’am. Get up off the floor, will you? You’re unsightly.”_

"I don’t think I’ve ever seen him this angry before.” 

Marcus sighed loudly. Daniel could picture him, looking over in this direction, making sure Daniel was asleep. Daniel wasn’t, but he wished he was, so he kept his eyes shut, kept still. “I wonder what he did.” 

“I don’t know. The last time I saw Theodore mad was when Denny killed himself. But…he’s pissed off at Daniel for…something.” Hugh let out a huff. “I guess it doesn’t matter what.” 

“I guess not. But it would be nice to know so we can help Daniel.” 

“We could ask him.” 

“You think he’ll tell us?” The way Marcus asked that question made it clear what he figured the answer was. He was right. 

“No. Would you?” 

“No,” Marcus growled. “It pisses me off how good he is at this. Making us not trust each other. Not talk to each other.” 

“Not like each other.” 

“Yeah.” Daniel could picture the irritated shake of Marcus’s head. 

“He’s older than all of us. More experienced than us, and he’s done this a thousand times. He knows how to use us and how to toss us away and he doesn’t care that we’re broken when he’s done.” 

“I know.” 

“I’m not telling you,” Hugh said, though Daniel suspected he was. “I’m telling Daniel.” 

“Daniel’s sleeping.” 

“No, he’s not.” 

Daniel could have kept up the façade, but he sensed them both looking at him and frowned. “How did you know?” he asked, opening his eyes. 

“You went still. You twitch in your sleep.” Hugh gestured him over, patted the ground beside himself. 

Daniel nodded. Another thing he wasn’t as good at as he thought, obviously. He came and sat obediently beside Hugh, crossing his legs. “I don’t need you to tell me Theodore’s a bad person,” he said, voice dull. “I already know.” 

Daniel had never felt like less of a person, not even during all his training, than he had in that meeting with Theodore. 

"It bears repeating,” Hugh told him. “Just in case.” 

“Okay. When did you see him?” Daniel wasn’t sure why that mattered. 

“A little while ago. I was helping clean the hallway when he came in. He, um…” 

“He was at the market,” Marcus finished, when it was clear that Hugh was reluctant. 

Oh. “The slave market.” _I’ll be replacing you in my bed._

“Yeah.” Marcus was scowling at the floor. Daniel wondered if he’d hoped that Theodore would let him be the replacement. But that wasn’t a very nice thing to think. Marcus had done nothing but be nice to him lately. “He…it’s taking him a long time. He’s gone every day the last three days. He usually only goes once.” 

“There must not be anyone who’s his type,” Daniel muttered. “I’m sure he’ll find someone.” 

“He always does,” Hugh agreed. 

“Try to be nice to him,” Marcus said to Daniel, watching him. “The new guy. I know I wasn’t.” 

“I’ll try,” Daniel agreed. He would try. It wasn’t the fault of whatever new slave Theodore bought that Daniel had screwed everything up. It was just another person who he’d failed to protect—someone who wouldn’t have been bought if Theodore had died. 

Someone who might have been bought by someone worse if Theodore had died. 

Daniel really hated that part of himself that thought it was better this way. 

He also really hated that he was increasingly sure it was right. 

“When you feel jealous, remember that it’s because Theodore made you feel that way,” Hugh supplied. 

“That’ll make you angry, probably.” Marcus shrugged. “It did for me. Just point that anger at the right person, you know? Or fuck, take it out on me, I deserve it.” 

“No, you don’t.” Daniel smiled at Marcus. “You’re a nice person.” 

“And you’re a goddamned liar.” 

“You have no idea,” Daniel whispered, looking down again. “I just…wish I could feel anything.” Anything except this suffocating emptiness that filled him every minute he was awake. 

“It’ll come back eventually,” Hugh promised, rubbing Daniel’s back. 

Daniel nodded, wondering if that was true. 

Wondering if he wanted it to be true. 


	25. The Casual Cruelties Are the Hardest to Avoid

_Greg moved fast, but Daniel could tell that he didn’t always think of where his hands would go until they’d gone there._

_That didn’t matter when he was faster though, and the boy he was fighting fell over, bleeding from his lip after a punch from the right he hadn’t seen coming. He didn’t cry out. None of them cried in pain anymore._

_“Who knows what he did wrong?” Ursula asked, arms crossed, scanning the rest of them, sitting there._

_Daniel didn’t say anything._

_“I do,” Bradley said, holding out his chin a bit. “He was moving too slow and not paying attention.”_

_“Hm,” Ursula smiled at him, which never failed to alarm Daniel. “Demonstrate,” she ordered, flicking her finger at Bradley._

_Suddenly looking nervous, Bradley got up, raised his fists to square off against Greg, who was looking tired. They were all tired. They’d been at this all day. And all day yesterday. And for the last week at least._

_The fight didn’t last long. Bradley was fast, faster than Greg. But he went down even faster. Ursula let out a little ‘tut.’_

_And she pointed at Daniel. “You.”_

_Pushing down the surge of nervousness that was getting easier to ignore with every time he had to fight, Daniel stood, took the sullen Bradley’s place as he shuffled away. Greg raised his fists. Daniel did too, but it was a joke and they all knew it. He wasn’t as strong as the other boys._

_He was more suited to laying on his back than standing on his feet, he’d been told._

_Rather than trying to outdo Greg in speed, Daniel stood as still as he could, raising his hands only to deflect Greg’s blows, keeping an eye on where his arms were. After a minute of being rebuffed Greg got frustrated, tried to take a step into Daniel’s space, grunting a little as he swung with his right._

_Daniel ducked, let Greg overbalance, nearly fall into him. And he punched Greg in the stomach as hard as he could, which may not have been very hard but was hard enough judging by Greg’s grunt. Greg fell to the ground, clutching his stomach. As Daniel straightened, Greg lashed out with a kick that took Daniel in the back of the knee, buckling his leg and sending him to the floor too._

_Ursula sighed loudly. Her shoes clicked as she walked, and she was standing over Daniel as he stood. “What did you do wrong?”_

_“I stopped looking at him,” Daniel muttered, looking at her feet._

_“That’s right. You’re lucky he’s too much of an idiot to take proper advantage.” Her gaze shifted to Greg. “And you?”_

_“I…” Greg coughed. Daniel tried not to feel satisfaction. Looked like he wasn’t the only one suited to being on his back. “I got too close to him.”_

_“No, you underestimated him, and overestimated yourself. You let the fact that you’d been winning convince you that you’d continue winning. You’re lucky he’s too soft to actually hurt you.” They were all ‘he’ to Ursula. She hadn’t asked any of their names._

_Another sigh. “Enough. Go eat.” As they all turned to go do that, Ursula put a hand on Daniel’s shoulder, keeping him in place as a shiver ran down his back. When the other boys were out of hearing range, she said, “You didn’t answer me when I asked who knew what he’d done wrong.”_

_Daniel closed his eyes, wondering if he was about to get hit. “I’m sorry.”_

_“Don’t apologize, it was a test and you passed.” Her hand left his shoulder. “Never let anyone know what you’re capable of. Predictability is death.”_

_Daniel looked up at her, opening his eyes. She was watching him, dispassionate. He nodded._

_She nodded back, and gave him one of those terrifying smiles. “And next time hit him three inches lower. He’ll have a harder time getting up from that.”_

“Oh, good,” Marcus said, as Daniel opened his eyes. “You’re awake.”

“And you’re as observant as ever,” Daniel told him, stretching. 

“If you’re feeling well enough to start being an asshole, I’m going to start being one back again.”

“Did you stop?”

Marcus chuckled, tossed Daniel’s shirt at him a little harder than necessary. “Get dressed. Benedict wants you.” 

Daniel nodded, pulled the shirt over his head. He’d been getting called away more and more to help with chores around the house lately. Which he knew was Theodore’s doing. _If you manage to come up with one, you may find your quality of life will improve a little._ Which Daniel took to mean that he wouldn’t be scrubbing pots and cleaning windows all the time. 

He didn’t have an answer and he never would. But at least the chores gave him something to do other than sit in the room and feel sorry for himself. He could be mobile and feel sorry for himself. It was a nice change.

“Where is he?”

“The grand staircase,” Marcus said, standing when Daniel did. “Come on.”

“He called you too?”

“No, but come on.” Marcus led him out of the room, and the two of them headed for the front of the house. “Hugh’s already down there, I think. He’s the one who told me to get you up. You sleep a lot, you know that?”

“Being asleep means I don’t have to think about him.” Daniel figured Marcus would understand.

“You don’t dream about him?” Marcus asked, giving Daniel a look. 

Daniel thought about lying, thought about saying what Marcus expected him to say. But he shook his head. “No. I mostly dream about the time before he bought me.” 

Marcus nodded, looking away. “I barely even remember that,” he said quietly. “I remember being hungry a lot. I lived with my grandmother, but she couldn’t afford to feed me so I had to do it myself. And when the guard came to our house one day because I’d gotten in a fight with someone and knocked over a fruit stall, she took me to the market and sold me the next day so I wouldn’t get her in any more trouble.” 

“I’m sorry,” Daniel said, looking at the floor.

Marcus shrugged. “Whatever. I’m not hungry anymore.” There was a lot of weight behind that statement, Daniel thought. “Why’d your parents sell you?”

It was Daniel’s turn to shrug. “They couldn’t afford to feed me and I was too small to get hired on a fishing boat.” 

“You are pretty tiny.”

“And you are pretty aggressive.”

Marcus snorted. “I guess those are good enough reasons to sell someone like they’re a thing.”

“I guess so.”

They’d come to the front of the house now and stood looking down over the foyer. Benedict was standing there at the railing, with a rag and a corked bottle. “There you are,” he said, impatient. Daniel didn’t think he knew what had happened, but he obviously knew that Theodore was punishing him. “This banister needs polishing. You will do it.”

Daniel nodded dully. The banister was twenty-five paces long and then thirty steps down, and thicker than his thigh. Polishing it would take hours. It seemed like the dark wood was perfectly shiny to him, but what did Daniel know? “Yes, sir.” He reached out and took the rag and bottle from Benedict, moving to the wall where the banister emerged to start. 

“Your help is not required,” Benedict told Marcus, who had bent down to grab the spare rag that was there. 

Marcus looked up at him. “Won’t it go faster if I help, sir?”

Benedict was silent for a moment, looking at Marcus and then the banister, and at Daniel, who had uncorked the bottle of foul-smelling polish and dabbed some onto the rag to begin. He was going to smell for days after this. “Very well. If you insist, Marcus. I shall trust that the two of you don’t require constant supervision, but don’t think I’m not watching.”

Daniel nodded, and Benedict walked off after a while. “Thank you.” He didn’t bother telling Marcus that he hadn’t needed to do that.

“Why’s he so mad at you?” Marcus asked quietly, taking the bottle from Daniel and dabbing polish on his own rag. He wasn’t talking about Benedict.

Daniel shook his head as he worked. “I lied to him.”

“About what?”

“Doesn’t matter. I wasn’t supposed to lie and I did.”

Daniel’s tone made it pretty clear that he wasn’t about to answer any other questions, and so Marcus didn’t ask any. They just polished the banister in silence, working slowly because the polish had to go on evenly. They were about halfway to the staircase when Benedict returned, with Hugh in tow this time. “The master will be arriving shortly,” he was saying to Hugh, giving Marcus and Daniel just a brief glance.

Hugh nodded, hand subtly brushing Daniel’s back as he walked by, just a reminder that he was there. It was a comforting gesture. 

Beside him, Marcus had gone a little stiff, his movements not as fluid as they had been. Daniel understood; his hand was cramping up too. 

“Daniel?” Marcus asked, quietly so he wouldn’t be overheard from down there. Daniel didn’t look up, but did glance down into the foyer, past the chandelier, to where Benedict and Hugh were by the door. 

“Yeah?”

“I’ve really started to care about you a lot. I really like you.”

Daniel blinked, and felt his cheeks warm a little. “I…” He wasn’t sure what to say about that. He wasn’t sure what he felt about it. 

“You don’t have to say anything. I just thought you should know.” 

Daniel didn’t have a reply, and he just sent glanced at Marcus out of corner of his eye as he worked. 

They’d made if a few feet further down the banister when Daniel opened his mouth to say something back. He still didn’t know what.

Benedict moved suddenly, pulling open the front doors. “Welcome home, sir,” he said, as Theodore came in the house. Not alone.

Just behind him was a boy Daniel’s age or maybe younger. A bit bigger than Daniel, his hair was the colour of honey and hung around his face in hundreds of bouncy curls. He was naked and had a faint red mark on his neck where a heavy iron collar had been until not long ago. 

Marcus was polishing the banister methodically. Daniel did the same, not looking up. 

If he looked up, he wasn’t sure if he’d vomit or jump. If he took a running leap, jumped on the banister, used it to jump off, he could grab the chandelier, swing it forward, and land right on top of Theodore from here. Or he could just sit on the banister and let himself fall. He’d probably survive, though, it wasn’t that far. 

Suddenly freezing cold, Daniel swallowed air as Theodore spoke. “Here we are,” he said. To the boy, probably. “This is my home, and yours too, now.”

“No,” Daniel heard the boy whisper. The foyer had a way of making sound carry. “You don’t understand. I’m not…”

“It’s a lot to get used to,” Theodore interrupted. “But you will soon enough. Ah, Hugh. This is Simon. Would you take him down to the baths and help him clean up? He’ll be eating supper with me. Duck, I think we’ll have.”

“Yes, Master.”

“Very good, sir.” Benedict would be nodding his head. Just as he had when Theodore had brought Daniel into the house. 

“Marcus,” Theodore called, raising his voice a bit. Marcus froze. “Why don’t you accompany Hugh and Simon? There’s no reason for you to be doing such a menial task up there.” 

Hand shaking a little, Marcus dropped his rag. “Yes, Master,” he said, shooting Daniel a quick apologetic glance before moving down the stairs. Leaving Daniel up there by himself, polishing. 

Simon kept muttering quiet protests about how he wasn’t meant to be here, how there’d been a mistake. Hugh and Marcus led him into the house, and Daniel couldn’t help but notice that they’d both grabbed one of his arms. Gently. They’d done that to him too, Hugh and Trevor had, but Daniel hadn’t struggled. Simon didn’t want to go, but they steadily drew him away, through a door down there, leading him to the basement where the baths were. He heard the door shut, leaving him alone. 

“I suspect he will try to run the first night or two,” Theodore said to Benedict, as the two of them headed up the stairs. “Do make sure the guards are aware.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And remind them of the consequences should he be harmed, of course. It’s been a while since we had a runner, I don’t want them to have forgotten.”

“I’ll see it done, sir.” 

“Good. I shall also need to speak with the goldsmith about fashioning a collar for him. A yellow stone, I think, to match his hair.”

They’d reached the top of the stairs. Daniel kept polishing, breathing in the fumes to keep himself from moving anything but his arm.

“Yes, sir. I’ll summon her immediately. You received a missive from Mistress Titlehorn while you were away. It awaits on your desk.”

They passed behind Daniel. Theodore didn’t even look in his direction. “Thank you, Benedict.” 

They disappeared into the hallway, door shutting behind them. Daniel could have relaxed. He was the only one here now. But he couldn’t. He was tense, wound like a spring and ready to break. He stood there for a long time, rigid, just breathing in the polish in uneven, stuttered breaths. His hand never stopped working, never stopped moving back and forth, back and forth.

Back and forth.


	26. Sometimes When You’re Hurting, it Helps to Comfort Others Who Are Hurting too

_“Stop moving,” Darwin snapped, when Roderick dropped his book for the fifth time. He had them standing still with books on their heads. Daniel would rather learn to read the books, but they’d laughed at him. “It’s not that hard.”_

_Apparently the reason none of them could move properly was because they didn’t know how to stand still._

_“It_ is _hard,” Roderick objected, picking up his book and putting it back on his head._

_“Do it anyway.”_

_Daniel had only dropped his book twice so far. He was standing with his eyes closed about five feet from Roderick. He took a calm breath. “It’s easier if you pretend that you’re balancing on a rope,” he said quietly. It was what he was doing, and it was helping him not be hyper-aware of every movement he made while still keeping himself steady. Darwin hadn’t told them the whole truth of this exercise—he’d said they had to not move so their books wouldn’t fall, but that wasn’t it. They needed to move the right way to keep them up there._

_“That’s stupid,” Roderick told him._

_“Yeah it is,” Darwin told him. “But he’s doing better than you are, isn’t he? Trying listening instead of talking for once in your life. And you.” Darwin rounded on Daniel, though Daniel didn’t open his eyes to see. “Worry about your own shit. You guys aren’t friends, you’re competitors. It doesn’t do you any good for him to do better.”_

_It would make Darwin stop talking. “Sorry.”_

_“Yeah, sure you are. We’re going to have to do some behaviour training so you guys aren’t shit slaves when it’s time for that.” Darwin stalked off a ways, back to the wall where he’d been sitting to watch them. “Next person to drop their book stands on his hands until lunch.”_

Daniel woke up with a kink in his neck, and tried to stretch it out before opening his eyes. 

“It’s not fair.”

Daniel sighed, wishing he was still asleep. He hadn’t realized Simon was here in the room with them. Usually he was attending Theodore, sitting with him while he worked, eating with him, following him around. All the same things Daniel had used to do. 

Like Theodore had said, he’d tried to run away two nights in a row. After being brought back the second time, he’d stopped trying. Though Daniel thought the look in his face was more one of someone who was thinking harder about his next attempt. 

Truth be told, Daniel preferred it when Simon wasn’t here in the room. All he did was complain and Daniel didn’t feel right talking to him. Looking at Simon made him want to hit something or cry and he wasn’t sure which it would be if he tried. 

But it was his room too, and here he was, complaining about his life to Marcus and Hugh. 

“No,” Hugh agreed. “It’s not fair. But it’s how it is.” 

“It’s _not_ ,” Simon insisted, shaking his head. Daniel sat up, rubbing at his eyes. “I’m not really a slave. I’m…” He swallowed some air as if he were planning to cry again. “I’m not really a slave,” he repeated.

“Didn’t he buy you?” Marcus asked him. “Like, at a slave market? I’m not trying to make you feel bad, but that makes you a slave.”

“No, I…” Simon let out an irritated sigh. “I’m not. My parents only sold me because they needed money to buy medicine for my sister. She’s sick, and she might die without it. I told them they could sell me to buy her the medicine. But it’s only for a little while, see. My uncle’s a merchant and when he comes back to down next month, they’re going to borrow money from him and use it to buy me back. I’m not really a slave.”

Marcus and Hugh looked at each other. Daniel just watched. Trevor and Al seemed to be ignoring the whole thing, which he understood. They’d mostly done that for him too. 

Hugh took a breath. Daniel could already hear what he was going to say. “Simon, selling you means you’re a slave. Even if they were planning to buy you back, as soon as they sold you, you were the market’s property to do whatever they wanted with. I’m sorry.”

“No, no…” Simon shook his head, tears collecting in his eyes. He was definitely younger than Daniel. “You’re wrong. And…even if you’re not, my parents, they’re going to come looking for me.”

“Yeah,” Hugh agreed. Daniel could see Simon starting to fall apart. “They are.”

“And…and when they do, the market will tell them where I am, and they’ll come here and get me.” 

Hugh nodded, though he had to know that was a lie. “They probably will.”

“And they’ll give Theodore money to pay for me, and they’ll buy me back.”

“No, they won’t,” Marcus said, shaking his head. Simon’s eyes went wide and Hugh glared at Marcus. “They won’t. Even if they do go to the market looking for you and even if they do come find you, Theodore isn’t going to sell you back to them. You belong to him now. Get used to it instead of pretending it’s not true. It’s easier that way.”

“No…”

“Marcus, that isn’t helping.”

“Lying to him doesn’t help either, Hugh. He’s going to learn the truth eventually.”

Between them, Simon’s eyes were watering, and he was about to start bawling again. Daniel didn’t want him to do that, he was loud. He stood up, crossed the small room and knelt in between Marcus and Hugh, taking Simon’s hands in his. “Simon,” he said, drawing the boy’s watering gaze upwards. “What’s your sister’s name?”

Simon blinked. “Susie.” 

Daniel nodded, trying to smile. “It was really brave of you to offer to let them sell you so they could help her.”

“Um…” Simon looked like he wanted to protest, but he just looked down. “I just want her to get better.”

“She probably already is,” Daniel lied. “She’s going to be so happy when you come home, don’t you think?”

Simon thought about it, and nodded. Then nodded again, more strongly. “Yeah. She is.”

“She’s younger than you, right? She’ll probably want to hear stories about your adventures while you were gone.” 

“P-probably,” Simon said. He seemed more stable now. 

“You should make up something exciting. She’ll get sad if you tell her you got stuck in a cage. Tell her all about the castles you visited, and how you helped the king fight an evil warlord.”

Simon laughed a little. “She’ll know I’m lying.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Daniel promised with a gentle smile. “Most people would rather hear lies than the truth. They’re easier to hear.”

Simon nodded, but as the nod got slower, his eyes started to water again. “I’m going to see her again,” he said.

“Yeah, of course you are.”

“My parents are going to come back for me.”

“Yes, they are.”

Simon nodded, and despite Daniel’s efforts he started crying again, surprising Daniel with a sudden lunge forward, wrapping his arms around Daniel and crying into his shirt.

Holding in a sigh, Daniel put his arms around Simon, hugged him. “It’s okay,” he whispered. “You’re not alone, okay?”

Daniel glanced at Marcus and Hugh, who both looked different shades of worried, and he shook his head. It wasn’t Simon’s fault that he was here. It wasn’t his fault that Theodore was a monster. Daniel started to cry a little too, but not for the reason he’d thought he might. 

Simon was right. It wasn’t fair, none of it was fair. And all they could do was hold onto each other and cry together.


	27. Our Actions Don’t always Make Sense, Even to Ourselves

_“This isn’t going to work,” Darwin muttered, so quietly that Daniel figured none of them but Chance was supposed to be able to hear._

_“That’s not for us to decide,” Chance said, hefting the dead boy over his shoulder to be taken wherever he took them when they died. This was the third one. It got less upsetting every time. He’d slipped trying one of Darwin’s tricks, and he’d landed on his head. They’d all hit their heads more than once; it hadn’t occurred to Daniel that doing it the wrong way could kill him._

_Darwin sighed, shaking his head. “Whatever. I should never have agreed to help you people with this.”_

_If Daniel didn’t know better, he’d say Darwin sounded upset._

_“This is how the world sorts out the weak, Darwin. You want to bitch about it, go to a church.”_

_“Weak.” Darwin snorted. “Unlucky. I guess it’s the same fucking thing. They don’t need to know how to do any of this shit. All they need to kill a guy is to know which end to hold the goddamn knife by. And this is the most complicated possible way to kill this asshole. What’s the real plan here, Chance? What did you not tell me? Or did the big boss not tell you either?”_

_“We have jobs to do, Darwin. Just do yours.”_

_“So he didn’t.” Darwin looked away, crossed his arms. Surveyed the surviving boys. “Get up, all of you. We still have shit to do.”_

Simon moved a lot in his sleep, which made it hard for Daniel to sleep, since Simon had decided he needed to start sleeping with Daniel. 

Soon, Daniel knew, Simon wouldn’t be sleeping in here very often. He’d get more sleep then. And he hated himself for even thinking that, for even considering that he might want that. 

This time, though, instead of adjusting himself, rolling over, taking his shirt off or putting it back on, Simon got up, probably to go to the privy. Daniel lay there, quiet, not bothering to try for sleep again until he came back. He’d just wake Daniel up when he came back in and curled up beside him again. 

So he listened to Simon pad to the door, then pause, pull it open quietly, and pause again before stepping outside, closing it behind him just as quietly.

It took Daniel nearly a full minute to realize that he wasn’t going to the privy. _Idiot_ , he thought, sitting up and rubbing his left eye. He’d stopped to check on them all twice, to make sure they were all fast asleep, that they wouldn’t notice him leaving. 

He was planning on trying to run away again.

With a sigh, Daniel got up, followed Simon out of the room. He wasn’t going to get far. The first time he’d tried, he hadn’t even gotten out of the house. The second time, he’d been caught halfway across the yard. He’d been trying to walk through the front gate. This time, Daniel figured he’d be at least a little smarter. 

When the guards brought Simon back, they were loud, and he was loud, and it woke everyone up, and Daniel wanted to avoid that if possible.

Telling himself that was true, he moved quietly through the house, down the back stairs. Sure enough, he heard the door opening and shutting as he went, Simon’s desire for quiet still there but muted now. 

Daniel moved the rest of the way down the stairs, keeping an eye out for Theodore’s guards all the time. They didn’t really patrol the house or anything at night, but they were supposed to be stationed by the doors. And yet this one stood unguarded. Maybe the guard was using the privy or getting a snack, or maybe he was just lazy. Daniel had never tried to escape, but he’d also never found Theodore’s house guards to be that present, which they ought to be.

It was a cool night, or at least it felt cool on Daniel’s bare legs when he stepped outside, looking around for any sign of the guards or Simon. He didn’t see either; he was far enough behind Simon that he wasn’t visible in the dark. But that didn’t matter, he’d been in this yard before, he knew where Simon would go if he wanted to escape.

Near the eastern wall, there was a little gazebo that Theodore sometimes sat in during the summer. Near it were some climbing plants that went over the wall. They looked sturdy enough to climb but Daniel was pretty sure they weren’t. Simon wouldn’t know that. Daniel headed over there, keeping an eye out for the guards as he went. They did patrol the grounds at night, as far as he knew. 

Sure enough, there was Simon, considering the plants, tugging at them as if deciding where to start. “That’s not a good idea,” Daniel called quietly. 

Simon jumped with a tiny yelp, turned and faced Daniel with eyes wide. “What are you doing here?”

Daniel smiled at him. “Those aren’t as sturdy as they look, and the lattice that they’re climbing isn’t nailed to the wall. You’ll fall and crash the whole thing down with you. The guards will hear.” He was making the part about the lattice up, but Simon wasn’t going to know that.

Eyes wide, Simon looked over his shoulder, then back at Daniel. “How did you know where I was?”

“There are only two places where the wall seems climbable,” Daniel said. “This is the easiest looking one. If you want to actually get over the wall, though, you have to go to the back wall, there’s a tall tree that grows pretty close to it. You’ll have to jump from a branch to the wall and then jump down from the wall on the other side.” 

“That wasn’t what I meant, I…” Simon hugged himself, looking like he might cry again. “How do you know that? You thought about escaping too?”

“Of course I did.” Daniel smiled again. He’d had an entire escape route planned for after he killed Theodore. “None of us want to be here, Simon.”

“They why didn’t you?”

Daniel shrugged. That was a good question. He knew why he hadn’t before, but now, now that he had no chance of killing Theodore, he could escape. He could steal some valuables from the house and escape, get over the wall and leave the city, go somewhere slavery was illegal so he wouldn’t be returned. Maybe he could even take Marcus and Hugh with him. “What you’re doing isn’t a good idea.”

“Of course it is!” Simon didn’t raise his voice much, so at least he was self-aware enough of that. “I can’t be here. I can’t. If I stay, If I…he’s going to...” He started to breathe faster, eyes watering.

“I know,” Daniel said, to spare him saying it and to cut Simon’s hysterics off before they could start. “I know what he’s going to do. But Simon, I don’t think you’ve thought about this enough.”

“What? I…I did. I thought about how I’d get out of the house, and how I’d get by the guards and get over the wall. I’ve been thinking about it since the last time!”

Daniel shook his head, going and sitting on the steps to the gazebo. “What about after you get over the wall? Where are you going to go?”

“Well…home.”

“And make your parents into criminals?”

Simon blinked, cautiously stepping closer to Daniel. “What?”

“Their house is the first place the guards will look when they realize there’s a runaway slave. Simon, we’re not people, you and me. Slaves are property. If your parents let you come back to them, the guard would consider them thieves.”

Daniel started to tear up a little just watching Simon crumble the more he said. “You’re…you’re lying.”

Daniel shook his head. “I’m sorry. But who’s going to take care of Susie if they get arrested and you get taken back here?”

Simon looked so lost, tears running down his cheeks, shaking his head. “It’s not fair,” he cried.

“I know. Come here.” Simon did as he was told, coming to sit beside Daniel on the steps. Daniel put his arms around the other boy, holding him there. “I’m not going to stop you from running away. Especially before Theodore hurts you. But you can’t go home if you do.” 

And because of that, Daniel knew he wouldn’t try.

Simon nodded, sniffling. At least he was crying quietly. “How do you do it? How do you…” He broke off into a gasp as he tried to avoid sobbing.

“I sleep a lot,” Daniel told him, not kidding. “The important thing is that you always have to remember that it’s not okay, what’s happening, and that it’s not normal or good.”

“I know that.”

Daniel nodded. “Theodore makes it very hard to know that. He’s very good at making you think it’s okay. He’s very good at making people like him.” 

“I hate him,” Simon asserted. “I hate him so much and he hasn’t even…”

“I know.” Daniel sighed. “I hate him too. But if you don’t want to spend your time here being carried around by guards and locked up, you have to pretend that’s not true, at least sometimes. And when you pretend something enough, it gets hard to remember that it’s not real. Just try to remember what’s real.”

Simon nodded, though Daniel wondered how much he was hearing. “And what about when he…how do I…” He couldn’t even make himself say it. 

Daniel sighed, hating himself so much for what he was about to say. “Just let him do what he wants. It won’t hurt your body very much. He’s very gentle.”

“But…”

“I didn’t say you’d like it. But you’re brave. If you do as he says, it won’t hurt and it will be over faster.” 

Simon squeezed his eyes shut, nodding. “Okay. I just…I just…”

Daniel took Simon’s hand, held it in his. “I know.” He looked around the yard, saw nothing but dark. “We should go back to bed before someone finds us.” Theodore had told the guards to handle Simon gently, but Daniel suspected that order didn’t extend to him. 

“Can…” Simon took what was probably supposed to be a steadying breath. “Can I just be by myself for a few minutes? Just a few minutes, then I’ll come back, okay?”

“Okay.” Daniel stood, patted Simon’s hair, the hair that Theodore liked. “Don’t stay out too long.”

Simon nodded, still crying to himself, and Daniel left him there, headed back for the house. 

The guard was back at the door, which meant that Daniel wasn’t getting back in undetected. After a moment’s indecision, he chose to just openly approach the man, trying not to smile when the guard openly started at seeing him. Daniel approached, giving an empty smile. “Simon is sitting in the gazebo by the east wall. He’s not going to run. But in a few minutes, maybe you could go get him?”

The guard just looked at him, eyes narrowing. “How the hell did you two get out here?”

“You were somewhere else,” Daniel said, just looking at him. 

The guard went a bit splotchy in the face, but he turned and pulled the door open. “Just…get inside and get back to your room, you…sir.”

Daniel’s heart skipped, and he looked up to see Theodore standing there in a nightcoat, looking right at him. “I had a feeling from our conversation at dinner that Simon was planning to make another escape attempt tonight,” he said, slowly. “Lo and behold, when I looked out my window, I saw a slave walking through the yard. The wrong one, it seems.”

Daniel’s throat was try, he didn’t have any words, but he opened his mouth anyway. “Simon’s sitting in the gazebo.”

“Ah.” Theodore smiled, looked at the guard. “Do go retrieve him, will you?”

The guard nodded and hurried off. Theodore moved aside so Daniel could come in. “You dissuaded him. Another surprise.”

“The guards are loud when they bring him back to the room,” Daniel said, hoping that the dark hid that he was shaking. “I just wanted him come back on his own so they didn’t wake everyone up.”

“Or perhaps you were encouraging him to escape so he’d be away from me,” Theodore suggested. “Hard to say with you, isn’t it? I notice you didn’t actually bring him back.”

Daniel wasn’t going to rise to that bait. He took another step into the house. 

“I haven’t dismissed you.”

Daniel stopped walking. “I’m sorry, Master.”

“No doubt. How is Simon doing?”

Daniel doubted that Simon was hiding his feelings when he was with Theodore. “He cries a lot. He still thinks his parents are coming to get him.”

“I see. He’s afraid of me.”

Of course he was. “Do you blame him?”

Theodore was quiet for a moment. “No,” he finally said. “I suppose I don’t. You may go.”

Daniel sighed. “Tell him he’s brave.”

“Excuse me?”

“Tell him he’s brave. The way you used to tell me I was smart. That’s what he wants to hear.” Daniel wanted to vomit.

“Thank you for the suggestion,” Theodore said, sounding thoughtful. “Goodnight, Daniel.”

“Goodnight, Master.” Daniel moved off, up the stairs and into the house, getting far, far out of Theodore’s hearing before he stopped, revulsion sweeping through him. At Theodore, at himself. What was he doing? What was he thinking?

Daniel didn’t even know. He wanted Simon to get away, to be free and happy. He wanted Theodore to hurt Simon. He wanted Theodore to die. He wanted Theodore to like him again. He wanted to have stabbed that stupid knife down that night. He wanted to have never tried. He wanted...

Daniel didn’t even fucking know what he wanted anymore. He wanted not to be standing here in a hallway in the middle of the night, crying and too confused to walk. He wanted to stop hurting.

And he didn’t know if he ever would.


	28. It’s Hard to See the Greater Good when its Collateral Damage Is Right in Front of You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The cycle just keeps turning.

_“Your target is a man named Theodore,” Chance told them all, surveying them as they sat, arrayed in front of him. They weren’t the scared, shaking little boys they’d been. Or maybe they were. It was hard to tell sometimes. “He’s a rich asshole in Merket who likes to buy boys your age as slaves and fuck them until he’s bored.”_

_Daniel’s gut clenched a little, but they all knew better than to talk when Chance was talking to them. He’d been worried that their target would be some nice person or someone who didn’t deserve to die. At least that made it easier, knowing that he was some monster who preyed on children._

_“We’re going to sell you back to a slave market at a time when we know he’ll be looking, and he’s going to buy one of you,” Chance went on. “Once you’re in his house, you’ll wait until you get your opportunity, and you’re going to kill him. How is up to you. When is up to you. How you escape after is up to you, but make sure you’re not caught or we can’t help you. We’ll tell you where to go once you’re out, and we’ll protect you, pay you, free you and get you out of the city safely to do whatever you want with the rest of your life. That’s your payment for killing him.”_

_“How much money?” Bradley asked, crossing his arms. Some of the other boys were looking at each other._

_“Five thousand gold pieces. More than enough to set you up for life if you’re smart.”_

_Which none of them were, was the implication. But Daniel was, and he was watching Chance. He knew how to hear what people weren’t saying when they talked, and there was a lot Chance hadn’t said in there._

_“Does he have a lot of guards?” Greg wanted to know, tapping his knee with a finger._

_“Enough that you don’t want to stab him in front of them.”_

_“You’re expecting us to let him rape us, aren’t you?”_

_Chance glared at Greg. “I’m expecting you to do your fucking job. If that’s what it takes, it’s worth it.”_

_That was easy for Chance to say when he wasn’t the one who was going to be raped. “How do you know he’s going to buy us?” Roderick asked. “Isn’t that a huge risk?”_

_“We know this guy. We picked you all based on the types of boys he’s liked in the past. He’ll pick you.”_

_“One of us,” Daniel said quietly, because it didn’t sound like anyone else had realized it yet. All eyes moved to him, but he kept his on Chance, unwavering. “What about the rest of us, the ones Theodore doesn’t buy?”_

_Chance glared at Daniel for a minute, as if he somehow hadn’t expected anyone to ask that question. Now they were all watching Chance, waiting for his answer. “You’ll be model slaves, you’ll keep your damn mouths shut, and you’ll accept whatever happens to you until we can get you out.”_

_“You’ll rescue us?” Greg asked, into the tight air of the room._

_“Not right away. We’ll be keeping our eyes on you. You breathe a word about anything that’s happened since you were here, you become a liability. We don’t suffer liabilities.” He drew a finger across his neck, an unnecessary threat, Daniel thought._

_“But if we stay quiet.”_

_“If you stay quiet, as soon as we get the chance, we’ll get you out of there.”_

_And who knew what would happen to them in the meantime, Daniel thought. It didn’t matter anyway, because though it wasn’t until a good while later, he did eventually realize that Chance had been lying._

_Nobody was coming for them._

Knocking at the door woke Daniel, which was annoying because for once Simon was sleeping quietly and letting Daniel sleep quietly as well. It wasn’t that late, or at least it hadn’t been when he’d fallen asleep. 

But it didn’t matter. The minute Daniel heard the knock he knew what it was, and he felt sick. He held Simon protectively, glancing at Marcus, who was playing cards with Hugh. Marcus’s face had gone grim, so Daniel wasn’t the only one. 

“Simon,” Daniel whispered, shaking him. 

At the same time, Benedict’s voice sounded through the door. “Simon,” he said clearly. “The master requests your presence in his bedchamber.”

“What…” Simon was just waking up, and Daniel helped him sit, trying to keep his face clear of emotion. “What’s going on?”

“You have to go,” Daniel told him, brushing Simon’s hair out of his eyes. “Theodore’s calling you.”

“What, but it’s night, why…” Simon trailed off, his eyes going wide as he woke the rest of the way up, and he shook his head. “No. No, I can’t…”

“Yes, you can,” Daniel promised, standing and pulling Simon with him, tugging a wrinkle out of his shirt. “You’ll be okay.”

“But, I…” Simon was looking around, breathing fast like he might start crying. “I…”

“Just be brave,” Daniel said, brushing his cheek. “You can do it.”

Simon nodded, looking away. “Will…you be here when I come back?”

Simon wasn’t coming back for a few weeks if the way Theodore had treated Daniel was any indication. “Of course I will be. Now go.”

Another nod, and Simon took a steeling breath. “Okay,” he said, in a broken whisper. His eyes were watering. “Okay.” 

Daniel walked him to the door, pulled it open for him. His eyes met Benedict’s as Simon went out into the hallway, looking at his feet, and they looked at each other for a long while. 

_You could stop this,_ Daniel was thinking. 

_You could have too,_ Benedict’s look back seemed to say.

“See you soon,” Daniel lied, hugging Simon for a moment. 

“Okay,” Simon said, swallowing a cry. “Soon.”

“Be brave.”

“I will.” Daniel could feel Simon’s heart pounding. 

“Come,” Benedict said, when the hug went on for a moment longer. 

Simon nodded, stepped back from Daniel. And he turned and let Benedict lead him down the hallway without another word. 

Swallowing bile, Daniel turned and went back into the room, closing the door behind him. He managed to get the door shut before tears started sliding down his face, at least. “Oh, God…”

He could have stopped that. He could have killed Theodore and stopped that from happening. He could have saved Simon from that. 

And he hadn’t. 

Theodore being alive made other people’s lives better. But was it worth it when Daniel had to sit here and watch as he destroyed Simon? He was a nice boy. He was a person.

“Damnit.” Daniel was such an idiot. “I hate him.”

“It’s okay,” Marcus said. Daniel didn’t know when he’d gotten there, but there he was, pulling Daniel into a hug. “You’re okay.”

“Simon’s not.” Daniel let Marcus hold him. Simon wasn’t going to be okay ever again now. He wasn’t going to recover from this. None of them had. It didn’t matter how Daniel felt. Daniel had failed, and he’d ruined everything. And now Simon was going to pay for it. “I hate him so much.”

“No, he’s not,” Marcus agreed. “But there’s nothing you could have done, Daniel.”

“Yes, there was,” Daniel cried, shaking his head. “Yes, there was. And I didn’t. Damnit.” 

“Come here,” Marcus said, pulling him over to sit between himself and Hugh, who joined in the hug. “You’re with us. It’s okay. Or at least as okay as it can be.”

“You’re safe, and that’s what matters, Daniel,” Hugh agreed. “You can’t protect Simon right now. Just be grateful it’s not you.”

Daniel nodded. “It didn’t have to be anyone,” he said, trying to get his tears under control. “I just…I hate him, so much.”

“Yeah. We do too, Daniel. We do too.”

But they hadn’t had and thrown away the chance to kill Theodore. That wasn’t what Hugh was saying, but it was what Daniel heard anyway. And he was right. 

“Damnit.”


	29. Things that Don’t Mean Anything Sometimes End up Meaning Something Important

_“Which one of us do you think he’ll pick?”_

_“Who?” Roderick asked, up on an elbow._

_“You know who,” Greg said, rolling his eyes at Roderick. “They guy. Theodore. Which of us do you think he’ll buy?”_

_“Oh. Me, of course.”_

_“Why?”_

_Because thinking that was the only way that he could make himself think this was okay. Daniel understood. He was doing that too._

_Roderick shrugged one shoulder. “Because I’m the best? I don’t know.”_

_Greg just grunted, shaking his head. “I’m serious. If you had to pick someone other than yourself, who’d you go with?”_

_“How should I know? I’m not buying a slave. You, probably.”_

_“Yeah?”_

_“Yeah. You’re smart, and stuff. Why, what about you?”_

_“Not sure. You or Bradley. You’re both pretty strong.”_

_“That’s not what he wants us for, though,” Bradley put in. “He wants to fuck us, remember?”_

_“Daniel, then,” another boy said, kicking Daniel’s foot. “He’s the most fuckable.”_

_“Fuck you,” Daniel muttered, looking up at the ceiling._

_“Careful, I just might.”_

_“Yeah, I dare you.” They’d been told in no uncertain terms not to touch each other on their first night here, and now they knew why. Theodore preferred them with no experience. “You’ll have a job as an opera singer for the rest of your life.”_

_“You’re going to look real good decorating someone’s bed someday.”_

_“Shut it,” Roderick said, laying back. “What about you, Daniel?”_

_“Greg’s the most likely to get picked,” Daniel started, thinking it through. Greg was attractive, young looking and had a nice smile._

_“That’s not what he asked,” Greg himself interrupted. “He asked who you’d pick. Come on, we’re all acknowledging our repressed attraction to one another here. If you had to pick someone to buy, who’d you go with?”_

_Daniel sighed, a little dramatic. “Bradley,” he muttered, a little hot in the face._

_“Aw, thanks,” Bradley cooed. “Never knew you had a thing for me.”_

_“Shut up,” Daniel put an arm over his face. One dream, that was all it had been._

_“He’s even boning up,” Roderick pointed out. “Daniel’s thought about this one.”_

_Daniel just made a noise._

_“At least he thinks about things,” Greg defended. “And he’s not the only one there, Rod.”_

_“Ha, ha, you’re hilarious.” Roderick sighed. And he reached down, started pulling on his erection. After almost two years sleeping together it wasn’t like any of them had any shame about their bodies left. “Come on then, let’s see who can shoot the fastest.”_

_It was a game they played a lot. That was the only night Daniel won._

Daniel woke up with a boner, which would have been less of a big deal if he had been in the small room. But he’d fallen asleep in a cupboard where he’d been putting towels away. 

Rubbing his eyes, Daniel stood, wondering how long he’d been in here. They were going to be wondering where he was. He felt wrong being in the room without Simon there. He felt wrong sleeping at night when he knew Simon wasn’t. He’d been napping in a lot of cupboards by accident. 

He couldn’t hide his boner in this shirt, so Daniel just peeked out of the cupboard before stepping outside, hoping that nobody would see him on his way back to the room where he could do something about it.

He wouldn’t, but he theoretically could. 

The sun was most of the way down, Daniel saw when he chanced by a window, so he’d been asleep for about an hour. Not too bad, then. If he went back now he could just say he got given some other chore before being allowed to return. Marcus and Hugh tended to believe him when he said things. In a way that made Daniel feel bad for lying. 

It was kind of annoying. 

He’d just come around the corner to go down the stairs that would take him to the slaves’ room when he heard voices and sighed. So much for not getting seen like this. 

And then they got closer, and he realized one of those voices was Theodore. 

_No_. Theodore wasn’t going to see Daniel. Not like this, not when he was going to go into that room soon and hurt Simon. Daniel…

If Daniel saw Theodore right now, he’d kill him. 

Nearby there was an alcove cut into the wall with a life-sized statue of Saint Anthony, who’d written six books of scripture after visiting heaven in his sleep. He was standing with a long scroll and his eyes closed, and Daniel ducked behind him, realizing that he could be seen between the legs and, with the voices drawing closer and nowhere else to go, lifting himself up and standing on his hands with his arms behind Anthony’s legs to keep himself hidden. 

Daniel’s shirt fell down over his head, but his back pressed against the statue stopped it going any farther. 

“I hope that this can be an extremely productive partnership, for both of us,” Theodore was saying.

“I hope so too, sir,” a woman’s voice said back. “If your intentions really are as noble as you say, it’ll be good for us and for the city.”

“Agreed, Captain. I think it’s all of our duty to make Merket the best version of itself that it can be, and that includes removing people who don’t feel that way from power when possible.”

“When possible,” the woman—Theodore had called her Captain, which meant she was Abigail Greentide, the city guard captain who he was talking to for help with Clement’s slave market—said. “And ideally replacing then with people who do.”

“That’s how I feel as well.”

Their voices receded as they descended the stairs, and Daniel stood there, on his hands behind the statue, vision obscured by his shirt, until he was sure they were gone. He mentally tracked them in his mind, counting how long it would take them to get to the bottom, to turn the corner, to head down the hall, through the doors, into the foyer, down the grand staircase…

It was only when they were halfway down there by his count that he took a breath, eased himself down, started shaking like crazy. He didn’t have time for that, though, and he came out from behind the statue, heading down the stairs himself before he had to worry about them coming back. 

All he wanted to do was chase after them and tell Abigail Greentide that Theodore wasn’t the person to replace Clement with. That he wasn’t going to make Merket a better place. 

But he was, and so Daniel didn’t. He just went to the slave’s room as fast as he could, trying not to think of how easy it would be for him to rescue Simon from the bedroom and grateful that he didn’t run into anyone else.

He got there and stopped, swallowing as he calmed himself. If he went in there upset they’d ask him why. He pressed down all his emotions, trying to seem normal. He even managed to stop shaking. 

Now he noticed that during all that he hadn’t managed to lose the boner, which really was just a goddamned insult. 

But that was fine, Marcus could poke fun at him for that and maybe not notice any residual fear on Daniel’s face, and then he could go to bed and it would be fine. 

Daniel nodded. “It’ll be fine,” He muttered, opening the door and stepping into the room. 

Where it turned out he wasn’t the only one with a boner. In fact, it was apparently a group thing tonight. On their side of the room, Trevor was on his back with Al on top of him, whispering with their arms around one another. And on the other side, next to a pile of cards, Marcus looked up at Daniel, pausing in the act of pressing his dick into Hugh. “Hey,” Marcus said, smiling. 

“There you are.” Hugh was holding Marcus’s hand. “You fell asleep somewhere, didn’t you?”

Daniel shrugged, closed the door behind him as he came into the room. “Don’t stop,” he said, waving at them. “I’m just going to go to bed.”

Marcus looked down at Hugh. Hugh looked up at Marcus, and then they both looked at him. “Sure you are,” Marcus said, waving him over. “Come on, we just started the good part. This is Hugh’s reward for winning the card game.”

“He asked for this?” Daniel wondered about that. But Hugh nodded, so he shrugged. “I’m good.”

“You’re pitching a tent,” Marcus reminded him, pointing. “Come on. We’ll just assume you lost. You can suck Hugh off.”

Uncertain, Daniel looked at Hugh, who probably had wanted to do this alone with Marcus. “I don’t want to get in your way if you’re…”

“It’s fine,” Hugh said, waving Daniel over. “Come on, no reason for you to be the only one not dealing with it.”

“You’re just saying that because you want a blowjob,” Daniel muttered, stripping out of his shirt as he came over, getting on his hands and knees. 

“Obviously,” Hugh said, pulling him closer and pushing the cards aside so Daniel could get in. “Now open up. And you,” he said to Marcus, “do something useful with that dick.”

“Bossy,” Marcus accused, as he pushed himself farther inside Hugh, giving Hugh a gasp.

“Damn right,” Hugh muttered, as Daniel took him in his mouth. He moved his hips a little, sighing. “That’s better…” he muttered.

Daniel was tempted to just suck Hugh down in one go, but he held himself back, only taking half of Hugh in his mouth and sucking gently, playing at the top of his dick with his tongue. Hugh was panting under him, which Daniel hoped was at least partially because of him. 

Hugh’s hand came up and wrapped around Daniel’s boner, starting to stroke it in tune with the thrusts Marcus was giving him. Daniel made a happy sound, and another one when Marcus’s hand ended up in Daniel’s hair. He tried to push Daniel further down on Hugh, but Daniel put his back into it and stayed where he was since Hugh was obviously enjoying it. 

So much so that, with a quiet cry, Hugh tightened his hand on Daniel as he came, Marcus’s hand giving Daniel no choice but to swallow—which he would have anyway—and stop sucking since he knew Hugh would be sensitive.

Hugh really picked up the pace on Daniel after that, and it wasn’t long before Daniel was tensing, and he shot all over Hugh’s hand, just as Marcus whispered, “Fuck, I’m…” and went totally still as he drove into Hugh.

When it was over, they collapsed into a sort of pile, Marcus pulling out of Hugh as Daniel sat up, wiping his mouth. With a heavy breath, Marcus leaned in and kissed Daniel on the mouth, smiling at him when he was done. Out of the corner of his eye, Daniel could see Hugh looking a little quiet. So he smacked Marcus on the arm. “Kiss Hugh, dumbass.”

It wasn’t that Daniel hadn’t liked the kiss. But he wasn’t the only one who needed one. 

“Oh,” Marcus looked sheepish, and he leaned down and did as Daniel told him. “Sorry. And thanks.”

“Thank you,” Hugh answered, smiling at Marcus and kissing him back. “Here, sleep with me.”

“Yeah, sure…” Marcus cast a glance at Daniel, who gave Hugh a kiss of his own and then moved aside so Marcus could squeeze in between them, one arm around each of them. It felt nice, and Daniel rested his head on Marcus’s shoulder. “We should do this more often,” Marcus said, yawning.

“You’re bottoming next time,” Hugh muttered from Marcus’s other shoulder. “And you’re helping me in the bath tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Marcus said. “I wish…that we could just have this. On our own.”

“Yeah,” Hugh said, expression guarded. “Me too.”

Daniel did too. 

“So it’s settled,” Marcus held both of them closer. “We’ll run away and live on a farm together or something.”

Hugh snorted. “Yeah.”

“We should,” Daniel said quietly, thinking about it. Marcus had meant it as a joke, but…

There was no reason for Daniel to stay here. Eventually Theodore was going to call Gideon over, and Gideon would see that Daniel had failed, and Theodore would die anyway. And when that happened, who knew what was going to happen to all of them. 

Why hadn’t he thought of this before?

“Yeah, I know,” Marcus said, yawning again. “We’ll raise cows and never go hungry, it’ll be great.”

“You wouldn’t know the first thing to do with a cow,” Hugh accused.

“I’m serious,” Daniel said, silencing both of them. “We could run away. I can get us over the wall in the back.”

“Daniel.”

“All we’d have to do is get out of the city to somewhere where slavery is illegal,” Daniel continued, not listening. “It wouldn’t be that hard, actually.” There might be guards. Daniel could…Daniel could kill them. 

They could do it. They could get away. It was totally possible. “We could steal a few things, some gold or something. Some food. Nobody pays attention to where we go.”

It was doable.

“Daniel, don’t,” Marcus said. 

“Either wait for him to let Simon come back or just break him out of the room when Theodore’s not home,” Daniel continued. “We could take Trevor and Al too, though they might just want to wait until he lets them go. We could…”

“Daniel,” Hugh reached over, took Daniel’s hand. “Stop.”

Daniel demurred, looking away. “Sorry. I just…”

“I know. But they’d find us.”

“Yeah.” Daniel sighed.

He was pretty sure they wouldn’t. 

“Go to sleep,” Hugh suggested, and yawned again with Marcus. Daniel followed suit, and nodded. 

“This is nice,” Daniel muttered as he drifted. “You guys. It’s nice.”

“Yeah,” Hugh sounded a bit sad. 

A glance up showed that Marcus had already drifted off. “He likes you,” Daniel said quietly.

“He likes you better.”

Daniel knew that. He sighed. “I don’t like him the same way.”

“You’re lying.”

Yes, he was.

“I’m sorry,” Daniel muttered. 

“Not your fault,” Hugh squeezed Daniel’s hand again. “People like who they’re going to like. Don’t worry about it. Go to sleep.”

Daniel nodded. “Okay. Goodnight, Hugh.”

“Goodnight.”

Daniel drifted off slowly, thinking about escape plans.


	30. Reality Is Like a Dream; It Doesn’t always Follow the Rules

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had this chapter planned in a lot of detail from pretty much the beginning of the story.

_They were in the cart again, clattering along the road. Maybe it was the same cart. Maybe it wasn’t. He didn’t know._

_Bradley, Roderick, Greg, Daniel. Four of them there, trying to sleep as they headed back for where they’d come from._

_No, Daniel thought idly, that wasn’t right. Pascal had been there too, curled up in the corner. There’d been six of them in the cart, not four._

_They were being taken to the slave market, to be sold. To be bought. To start the job they’d been trained for, or not. They were freezing, having been washed off with cold water, the dirt and grime scrubbed from their bodies. Their hair had been cut straight and pretty. They needed to look their best._

_Or their most fuckable, Darwin had muttered under his breath when he’d thought none of them could hear._

_Pascal had been there too, Daniel was sure of it even as he looked in the corner and didn’t see him. He had been laying there, curled up in the corner, miserable. Miserable because he knew. He knew before they’d even been sold it wasn’t going to be him. He had a split lip, one he’d gotten in a fight with another boy last night. Was a split lip enough to make Theodore not want to buy him?_

_Probably, was what they all thought but weren’t saying._

_The cart trundled along, loud. They were all asleep, or trying to be. Daniel couldn’t sleep, he didn’t understand how the others could. Their lives were about to be sold. Again. And there was nothing they could do about it._

_The cart was old, the wood soft in places. It was fitted with brackets for them to be chained to, heavy iron collars around their necks. A few of the brackets could probably be pulled out of the wall with the right leverage, they were loose._

_Also loose was the door, which clattered as they moved, letting a lot of light in through the gap. Daniel could reach through that gap with his hand and open the latch on the other side if he wanted._

_But where would he go? A naked, scared boy with a collar on his neck? The world wasn’t kind enough to let someone friendly pick him up. Likely as not he’d be taken to the slave market anyway. Or just taken to someone’s house at random._

_No, they were here and there was nothing they could do about it. Theodore was only going to buy one of them and there was nothing they could do about._

_“You’re going to look real good decorating someone’s bed someday.”_

_The boy who’d said that to him was chained up across from Daniel, leaning on the weak doors a little. He was the one who’d split Pascal’s lip, too._

_Pascal had been the prettiest of the six of them._

_They couldn’t control which of them was bought, but maybe they could play with the odds a little._

_They were all going to be raped. That was what people did to slaves. There was no way of getting around that. All they could hope for was that it was Theodore who ended up raping them, so they could do what they’d been trained to do._

_It was sick, competing to see which of them could be violated by the person they hoped to be doing the violating._

_The other boys were sleeping. Daniel was the only one awake. He crawled quietly across the cart, as far as his chain would allow, which was far enough. He reached past the sleeping boy, grabbed the bracket keeping him chained to the wall of the cart. The wood was soft, the bracket was old. Daniel wiggled and worried it for a minute until it came loose, or loose enough. A hard pull would yank it out. Daniel wasn’t strong enough to give a hard pull._

_He backed up, heading for his spot. On the way by, he slipped his hand through the crack in the doors and lifted the latch. The sleeping boy was leaning against the door, now not secured shut. It opened, and he fell, and he fell over the edge of the cart, and the pull of his weight pulled the bracket out of the wall with a loud clatter, and the doors swung open, showing them the moving road._

_Pascal was the one who Theodore would have bought, and in the back of his mind, Daniel knew he was dead. He was dead because of a split lip. Without it, it might have been him, in Theodore’s house. It might have been Daniel who’d died. Everything might have been better._

_Daniel rested his head against his wall and closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep. The cart was so noisy that the doors and the chain hadn’t even woken anyone up. Bradley, Roderick, Greg, Daniel. Scared, naked little boys on their way to be sold._

_It was a half-hour before anyone woke up and noticed the open door, and what had fallen through it._

“Daniel,” Hugh said quietly, giving him a shake.

“What?” Daniel grumped, annoyed that he was being woken up. “I’m sleeping.”

“I know, but I have to go pee and I can’t with your head on my shoulder.” 

Daniel stayed there for a second, then realized what Hugh had said and nodded, straightening with a yawn. “Sorry.” He was just going to lay down and go back to sleep, but he had to pee too.

Sighing, Daniel stood with Hugh. “I’ll come with you. Where’s Marcus?” He wasn’t anywhere in the room. In fact, he and Hugh were alone.

“Taking out the dining chairs with Trevor and Al,” Hugh told him, handing Daniel his shirt to put on as they headed for the door. “Theodore’s having people over.”

Daniel nodded. “I’m offended we weren’t ask to move chairs,” he said, a minute later as they headed for the privy. 

“I’m not. Being scrawny has to have upsides somewhere.” Hugh smiled. “Let Marcus do all the sweating.”

“Yeah,” Daniel chuckled. 

“I am kind of surprised they didn’t make you do it,” Hugh went on. “It would keep with the theme.”

Daniel nodded. “I’m not going to complain too loudly.”

“Why’s he so mad at you?”

Daniel went quiet. “I’m sorry,” Hugh said. “It’s just…weird.”

“I broke the rules.” They turned the corner to where the privy was, went in together.

“We all break the rules sometimes,” Hugh said, hiking up his shirt to pee, waiting for Daniel to do the same before reaching out to hold Daniel’s. Daniel grabbed Hugh as well and let his bladder go. “He doesn’t punish us for weeks.”

“Not those rules.” Daniel shook his head, making his Hugh’s stream collide with his for fun. Hugh made a face at him. “One of the ones he plays by that the rest of us don’t know about.”

“What do you…”

“He’s the one who gets to decide when he’s done with us,” Daniel said, concentrating. “It’s always him deciding that, deciding everything. He’s mad at me because I decided we were done. Not him.”

Hugh looked at Daniel, and Daniel just focused on emptying his bladder, and when he was done Hugh let him go, and Daniel shook off the droplets before dropping his shirt. “What does that mean?” Hugh asked as Daniel let go of him too.

Daniel wetted his hands in the small basin and shook them dry. “I tried to kill him.”

He said it quietly, but it didn’t matter. He could feel Hugh’s eyes on him, and Daniel left the privy to get away. But he waited outside, because Hugh was going to find him anyway. He just needed a second to himself.

That was all he got, because Hugh came out right after him. Hugh usually didn’t wash his hands. “What does that mean?”

“It means what it sounds like.” Daniel tried not to snap, he did. He started walking back to the room.

Hugh followed after him, grabbed Daniel’s hand in his. “You’re not a killer, Daniel.”

Daniel looked down at the floor. “Obviously. Or we wouldn’t be in this house anymore, would we? I could have saved us all.”

“No, you couldn’t have,” Hugh said, sadly. “Nobody can save us, Daniel. Unless…”

Unless? Daniel looked up, question in his eyes. Hugh smiled. “Were you serious, the other night, when you said we should all try to escape? Do you really think we’d make it?”

Daniel looked at Hugh, trying to decide if he was serious. He couldn’t tell, but he nodded. “Yes,” he said. “I do.”

“Tell me how.”

“It wouldn’t be that hard,” Daniel said, walking back to the room. “He keeps some money in his study for emergencies, it’s easier to steal than from the gold vault since that’s locked. We’d have to go to his bedroom anyway to get Simon. It’s not hard to get food out of the kitchen. If we wait until he’s not likely to come in there…”

“You want to go during the day?” 

Daniel shrugged. “Or when he’s having a fancy dinner with all his friends.” 

“You’re insane,” Hugh muttered.

‘The guards don’t pay very much attention. Simon managed to get all the way to the gazebo and he’s not very sneaky. If we climb the big tree near the back wall, we can get over it. We’d just have to sneak until we got out of the city.” Daniel took a breath, organizing his thoughts. “We could go south, or west to White Cape. Slavery is illegal in both places, and once we were somewhere it was, they wouldn’t return us here.”

Daniel didn’t know that last part for certain, but it seemed like if they didn’t believe in slavery down south, they wouldn’t return people north to be sold into it again. 

“If we went to White Cape,” Hugh mused, “we could get on a boat and go wherever we wanted.”

“Nobody would find us,” Daniel insisted. “The world’s really big.”

Hugh was quiet for a minute, looking at the floor. He swallowed, and met Daniel’s eyes. “We’re bringing Trevor and Al too.”

Daniel nodded. “Okay.”

“I know I mostly spend time with you and Marcus, but…they’re my friends too. They were really nice to me after…after Theodore brought Marcus here.” Hugh took a breath. “And we can’t let them tell Theodore we’re leaving.”

Daniel smiled. “As long as you can talk them into coming, it’s fine.”

“Simon will do whatever you tell him to. But you’ll have to convince Marcus. He won’t listen to me.” 

There was a sad note in Hugh’s voice at that, and Daniel took his hand and squeezed it. “I’ll talk to him.”

“The idea will scare him but he won’t want to admit it.”

“I can handle Marcus,” Daniel promised, walking towards the room again. They couldn’t have someone come along and see them conspiring in the hallway. “What made you change your mind? The other night you wouldn’t even let me talk about this.”

“I just…” Hugh looked away, still holding Daniel’s hand. “I can’t stand to watch him hurt the people I care about anymore. He hurts us without even seeing us.”

“Yeah,” Daniel agreed, nodding. “He’s really good at…” Daniel cut himself off, hearing what sounded like a crash in the distance. “Did you hear that?”

Hugh nodded. “Sounds like something fell over.”

“The foyer is that way,” Daniel said, looking down the hall. “I wonder if anyone got hurt.”

“Theodore was out,” Hugh said. “Maybe he tripped when he came in?”

A shout rang out. Daniel picked up his pace, heading there. “Daniel, we should just…”

“Aren’t you curious?” Daniel asked. The shout had sounded like one of pain. Maybe Theodore was hurt. If he was, Daniel wanted to see it. 

As they neared the foyer, Daniel slowed a little, just so they wouldn’t be visible right away. The front doors were thrown open, bringing an autumn wind into the house. Theodore and Benedict were down there, with three other people in long coats. Theodore was on the floor, Benedict standing in front of him. The stranger in the middle had a crossbow.

“Oh, God…” Hugh whispered, going pale. “Do you think…”

Daniel didn’t think. He let go of Hugh’s hand, broke into a run without pause. “Daniel!”

Daniel measured the banister in his head, looking up at the chandelier hanging over the foyer. Time to find out if he’d been right in his measurements. He leapt onto the banister in a long bound, bending his leg and kicking off from it in a leap that had him soaring through the air. It was too far away, he realized immediately; the chandelier was farther than he’d realized, and he…

He managed to get his hands to the gold spokes, swinging the chandelier forwards in a clatter of glass and crystal, eyes focused on the main with the crossbow. He let go, his trajectory taking him right there, and by the time the man had thought to look up, Daniel was already colliding with his chest, sending them both to the ground in a clutter of limbs. 

The man was swearing and trying to push Daniel off, which he would do because he was far heavier than Daniel. Scrambling, Daniel turned around, tangled a little in his shirt, the man’s hands on his legs. He gave a quick glance at what he could see. Theodore was on the floor, seemingly unhurt. Benedict’s arm was bleeding. One killer was behind Daniel and the other was just about in front of him, drawing a long knife and running at Benedict. 

Something went still inside Daniel and he stopped struggling, let the man pull him away. On his way, Daniel reached down and grabbed the knife the man was wearing out of its sheath, using his other hand to change his momentum again, lunging forward and stabbing the heavy man in the chest before pulling back, spinning and tossing the knife at the second man, taking him in the neck before he could reach Benedict. Everything was moving slowly. There was no sound. 

A shout behind him had Daniel turning, still in a crouch, and grabbing the discarded crossbow of the first man. It was heavier than he expected but he pointed it, shot. Took the man in the ribs as he prepared to throw his own knife, which missed by a foot thanks to the hit. Daniel grabbed it, tossed it back, right into the man’s stomach. 

Everything rushed back all at once and Daniel fell back, away from the body, suddenly suffocating. He couldn’t breathe. Three people. He’d killed all three of them. How had he…

Daniel felt himself start to throw up, raised his hand to his mouth to stop it, ending up just coughing vomit all over his hand. He was shaking, feeling distant from the house, from the bodies, from his body.

“Daniel.”

Theodore’s voice had him snapping around. Theodore was standing up, looking pale. Behind him was a broken display case. He wasn’t hurt. He was alive.

Daniel started to cry. It was too much. He had acted without thinking, and now this. He couldn’t, he couldn’t…

Theodore just looked at Daniel as he brought his hands up to his head, tried to hide. And he turned to Benedict. “Get someone in here to clean this up,” he said quietly, voice shaking. “And get yourself tended to. They said they wanted the stones—if they know I have them, they may know where they are. I’m going to move them, and check on Simon.” He cast a glance at Daniel. “Take care of him.”

“Yes, sir,” Benedict said, holding his bleeding arm. He’d been shot.

Hugh was looking down at them from above, pale as death. 

Daniel couldn’t do anything but shake there on the floor while Theodore turned and headed up the stairs. “Hugh,” he heard Theodore say. “Come with me, will you?”

“But…”

“Hugh,” Theodore said, in a much more dangerous tone.

“Yes, Master…” Hugh said, and out of the corner of Daniel’s eye, he saw them both retreat into the house. 

For a minute he just sat there, and Benedict looked around. “Very impressive,” Benedict said. 

“I didn’t mean to,” Daniel cried, rocking back and forth. “I didn’t mean to. I just saw the weapons and I…”

And everything that Daniel had been taught had overtaken him. To do the exact opposite of what he’d been taught it for. To save Theodore’s life. Daniel was going to throw up again.

“Seeing weapons was not enough to drive me to kill three assassins,” Benedict said, wincing.

“Just thugs,” Daniel whispered, trying to stand up, finding himself unsteady. “Most assassins are just thugs.” He had to, he had to get it together. He had to push this back, to get past it. He couldn’t afford to freak out now. These people had probably been sent by the same people who’d hired Chance and them to train Daniel. He took a staggering step towards the body of the man with the crossbow, kneeling in front of him. “A real assassin could…” he paused, looking down at the body. Dead people didn’t look like they were sleeping. 

“Are you a real assassin?” Benedict asked, approaching from behind.

“No,” Daniel whispered, swallowing, wiping his hands on the dead man’s shirt and looking through his pockets. “I’m just a scared, naked little boy.” There was some coin, a flask, some string. There. Daniel found a wallet, folded. In it was a piece of paper. “His orders.”

“Foolish to keep them in his pocket.”

“Guild assassins just do what they’re told. He probably only got them this morning,” Daniel muttered, opening the paper, squinting at the words. He was okay, he could do this. He could keep it together long enough to do this.

“It’s just the master’s name and address,” Benedict said, looking over Daniel’s shoulder. “The date, and…does that say ‘two stones, bedroom study?’” 

Daniel nodded, shivering. “This sign here. It’s for the Jerang Assassin’s Guild.” And here he’d thought that information would never be useful. Darwin had been good for a lot of things. “They’re used for political assassinations. They’re violent and not very subtle. They use that five-pointed flower as their sign because they usually work in groups of…” Daniel trailed off, looking at the flower.

There were three bodies.

“Five.” Benedict’s voice was quiet. He sounded scared.

Daniel stood, turning. “Stay here,” he said, dropping the note and heading for the stairs. On the way, he reached down to grab the knife out of the second assassin’s neck. 

“Daniel.”

“Get the guards to do something useful for once in their lives!” Daniel called, bounding up the stairs. Benedict called after him, but Daniel didn’t hear what he said. Hugh was with Theodore. Simon was in the room. If there were more assassins, both of them could be in danger.

That was all Daniel thought about as he ran through the halls, thinking only of what was ahead of him, thinking only of Hugh and Simon, and how he was going to save them. They were going to escape together, all of them. He had to save them. 

He wasn’t going to let Theodore be the death of them.

Theodore had walked to the bedroom where Daniel had gone at a flat run, and just as he turned the last corner, Theodore was putting his hand on the handle, pushing the door open.

“Hugh!” Daniel shouted, racing towards him. Hugh looked up, eyes going wide as he saw Daniel running at him with a bloody knife, but Daniel didn’t have time to explain. He grabbed Hugh by the arm and pulled, using Hugh to push himself forward and getting Hugh away from the door. And Daniel tackled Theodore, pushing him away from the entrance. 

“Daniel!” Theodore’s arms came up, grabbing Daniel’s shoulders, and both of them managed to keep their feet. Hugh shouted in alarm behind them. 

Daniel turned as the assassin stepped out of the bedroom, long knife in front of him, looking annoyed.

Daniel didn’t give him time to raise the knife, stepping under his arm and stabbing him in the gut, twice. Then, as the man doubled over with a shout, Daniel reversed the knife and stabbed him in the back three times, until he fell to the ground. 

Sweating, panting, Daniel took a step into the room. 

The fifth assassin was standing there, holding a knife to Simon’s throat. “Just stand right there, kid,” he said, voice quivering. Simon was crying, struggling futilely. He had a black eye. “Or your buddy…”

Daniel’s vision had gone narrow. He was shaking, his heart was pounding in his ears. He wasn’t made to do this for more than a few seconds. He didn’t hear the rest of the killer’s threat, the drive in him to just _move_ making him take a step, watching the knife in the killer’s hand. 

And he thought that if the man were busy cutting Simon’s throat, he wouldn’t be able to defend himself. And for an endless second, Daniel considered. Here, in Theodore’s bedroom. In front of the chair where Theodore had taught Daniel how to read. This was Daniel’s place, not Simon’s, Simon had no right to…

If Simon died, things would go back to normal.

Things weren’t normal. They’d never been normal. They could never be normal as long as Daniel was wearing a collar on his neck. Simon was crying. Around his neck was a gold collar with a pale yellow gem set in it. 

Daniel stumbled, stopping moving, made as if to drop the knife. And whipped it underhanded to strike the man’s shoulder. 

He cried out in pain, dropping his knife arm. Daniel saw some blood.

Now he raced forward, grabbing Simon and shoving him aside, preparing to attack the assassin, the fact that he had no weapon forgotten in his fury.

Pain, white. Daniel looked down, saw the assassin’s knife in his chest. On the right side. On the wrong side to kill someone right away. Coughing, he tasted blood, heard shouting from somewhere. Maybe Theodore? But Theodore didn’t care about him, had never cared about him. A red stain was spreading over his white shirt. 

Daniel reached up, yanked his knife out of the assassin’s shoulder, and drove it into the man’s heart. That was the right side, the left was the right side to kill someone quickly.

And sure enough, the colour drained out of the man’s face and onto his shirt, onto Daniel’s hand, and he fell to the side. 

Daniel collapsed too, first to his knees, then back. “Daniel!”

He was caught, and looked up. Theodore was looking down at him, terrified. Why was he afraid? “It’s okay,” Daniel said, chest hurting with the intake of breath. “They’re dead now. You’re…fine…”

“Hugh,” Theodore said, voice harder than Daniel had ever heard it. “Run. Tell Benedict to summon Gideon immediately.”

“No!” Daniel tried to sit up, but he couldn’t find the floor, and he also couldn’t really move, so he coughed up some blood instead, staining Theodore’s shirt. His own shirt had that growing red spot on it. The white was stained by vomit and blood. “Not Gideon. Don’t…Gideon.”

“Go, Hugh.”

“He’ll kill us…” Daniel coughed. “He’ll kill you. Gideon is…Gideon, Darwin. He…taught me…Don’t…Gideon…” If Theodore called Gideon, all of this would have been pointless. All of whatever the hell Daniel had done here would have meant nothing.

God, he was stupid. Why hadn’t he just let them kill Theodore? He could have escaped with the other slaves in the chaos. He could have, he could have…

“Tell Benedict to summon Cassiopeia,” Theodore said, not looking up. His expression was so dark. Like someone important was dying. But nobody important was dying. Just a slave. Just Daniel. Nobody cared. “ _Immediately_.”

“You’re going to be okay, Daniel,” Theodore promised, rocking him in his arms. “Please, just hold on.”

“Why’re you…crying…” Daniel wanted to know. All he could see was Theodore’s face. “You’re…fine…”

“Stop talking. You’ll make the bleeding worse.”

“M fine…” Daniel told him, closing his eyes for a bit. “Doesn’t even…hurt…”

“Daniel!”

“Shut up…” Daniel mumbled, sinking. “Trying to…sleep…”

_In the back of the noisy cart with Pascal, Daniel looked out at the road through the open doors._

_“You shouldn’t have done that for me,” Pascal said, through his split lip._

_“I didn’t do it for you,” Daniel told him, watching the road._

_Pascal nodded. He wasn’t chained up. Neither of them were anymore. “Do you think he got away?”_

_“I hope so.” The world wasn’t that kind to anyone, though._

_“No, you don’t. You don’t even remember his name.”_

_“You don’t know me anymore,” Daniel told Pascal. “I didn’t at the time. I do now.”_

_Pascal snorted. “Where do you think they’re taking us?”_

_Daniel shrugged. “This is just a dream. So wherever we want, I guess.”_

_“What makes you think it’s a dream?”_

_“Because I’m not tired. And also this.” Daniel smiled, tapped his neck._

_There was no collar there._


	31. With Enough Luck, Loose Ends Can Be Made into Backup Plans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter that I've been looking forward to for a good while. I'm curious to see what people think.

The newest welt on his back ached as the boy hung laundry in the courtyard. His left hand shook, but he hung the clothes with precision, straight, the same distance apart, dripping onto the cobblestones. Doing it wrong would earn more welts and worse, and the boy knew better by now. 

The hurt didn’t bother him, not really. Most of his body hurt most of time. He was used to it. The boy didn’t think he’d ever lived a life without hurt. 

He was the only slave in the house, and the Master and his family had generously made him available to the paid servants for whatever they needed on top of his other duties to the family. He was very busy, always busy. He didn’t have time to worry about something hurting, not when he had so much to do.

He had three shirts left to hang when the doors to the house opened, and he heard the Master’s voice. The boy dropped to his knees like he was supposed to, eyes on the cobblestones even if the Master wasn’t looking in his direction. 

“We’ll handle that once we’re back from the tailor,” the Master was saying. 

“We should just get the tailor to come here,” the Master’s nephew complained. The number of footsteps suggested there were four of them, which meant the Mistress and their young son were there too. 

“The fewer people in your house, the better,” the Master said, scolding. “Who knows what they might take.”

“Fine,” the Master’s nephew said, with one of the sighs he was good at. “Cart’s not even here.”

“They’re bringing it around, learn some patience.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Shuffling, and the boy heard the Master’s nephew coming over his way. A smack on the back of his head. “Come to my room when we get home.”

“Yes, Master,” the boy said to the cobblestones. He was often in the Master’s nephew’s room. 

“And pour some water on yourself, you stink.”

“Yes, Master.” Technically this wasn’t his Master, but that didn’t matter. 

An annoyed noise. “That’s all you ever say.” He widened his stance, legs apart, and was unlacing his pants. The boy just knelt there, waiting.

“Ray, I’ve told you not to piss in the courtyard!” the Master called. “Come on, the cart’s here.”

Another one of those noises. “Okay, okay.” Hands coming away from his pants, the Master’s nephew smacked the boy again, and then he kicked over the laundry bucket. He always punished the boy when he was mad at his uncle about something. That was what slaves were for. 

The boy started picking up the laundry that was on the ground, which he was going to have to wash again now, and the gates to the courtyard creaked open. “Ah,” a voice said, coming in. “That’s convenient.”

“Who the hell are you?” the Master demanded. “This is private property.”

“Yeah.” The voice was familiar to the boy. “I know. Speaking of private property, I want to buy some of yours. That one right there, actually.”

“What the fuck are you going on about?”

“Your slave there. I want him.”

That was…the voice belonged to Darwin, the boy realized, something cutting through the dull patience in his mind as he picked up the shirts. 

“He’s not for sale, and I’ll thank you to…”

“Anything is for sale if you have enough coin. Five hundred silvers.”

“I’m not…” the Master sounded angry. 

“A thousand silvers, then,” Darwin interrupted.

A silence, for a moment. “It’s illegal for me to sell him to you,” the Master said. “Has to be done through a market.”

“He was given to you as a gift, wasn’t he? Not through a market. Also illegal. Fifteen hundred silvers and I won’t tell anyone. That’s a goddamned steal, the condition he looks to be in. God, you’re not even trying to keep him healthy, are you?”

Another silence. The boy remembered that night, two days after he’d been bought from the market, taken to a party full of bright lights and laughing people, taken to a small room with a few people in it. And taken home by a different Master the next day. 

Another silence. “Two thousand,” the Master said, defiant.

“Uncle!”

“Deal.” There was a clink of coin, right then and there. The boy felt nothing. “Kid, get over here.” 

“Boy!” the Master barked, when the boy didn’t get to his feet fast enough. The boy hurried to his feet, came over as fast as he could, eyes on the cobblestones. 

Darwin sighed, turned away. “Come on.”

The boy followed after him, followed after his new Master, not listening to Ray complain, to the Mistress ask what that had been about, to the Master assure them they could buy another slave with that coin, to any of it. He just listened to the slap of Darwin’s boots against the cobblestones, the creak of the gate. A cart was waiting for them, door open. “Get in.”

The boy did, standing and waiting for Darwin. “Sit the hell down, God. What’s your name again?”

Licking dry lips, the boy said, “Whatever you…”

“Don’t give me the whatever you want from me bull,” Darwin said, waving a hand as he pulled the door shut. “And sit on the bench there. I can’t remember your name. Glen?”

“G…” The boy sat on the bench, hands on his lap, honestly trying to remember. “I don’t…remember,” he said quietly. Whatever he’d been before was gone now. The first few weeks, the first few weeks when he’d been ‘boy’ he’d tried to remind himself at night, before he fell asleep, of who he’d been. But he’d gotten so tired, he hadn’t had time, and he’d stopped reminding himself after a while because that other boy wasn’t coming back.

And now, the boy wasn’t sure he could get his old self back if he wanted to. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to. His old self was stupid, always making plans and wanting things. The boy was pretty sure he had never been happy in his life. 

“Right,” Darwin said, voice a little distant. “It’ll come back. Tell me when you remember. God, you smell awful. I was going to feed you, but you’re having a bath before you get anywhere near food. You look half-starved, too.”

“I…I didn’t believe you,” the boy whispered, swallowing. “I didn’t believe you were really coming to get me.” He remembered that conversation, remembered Chance telling them that whichever of them weren’t sold to Theodore just had to sit and wait, not become liabilities and they’d be rescued. 

The boy hadn’t become a liability. He hadn’t said anything. And he hadn’t expected to be rescued. 

“Yeah,” Darwin sighed, looking out the window. “There was a change of plans.”

The boy nodded, though he didn’t know what that meant. 

“Daniel fucked up,” Darwin said, still to the window. “He should have killed Theodore by now and he hasn’t, and it looks like he’s not going to. We need you to do it.”

Now the boy looked up, left hand shaking. “Me?” The boy remembered Daniel, remembered his big, busy green eyes and his discontent expression. What had happened to him?

Darwin nodded, earrings making noise. 

“You’re going to sell me to him?” The boy found it a little strange that that bothered him. Like what happened to his body mattered. Like what happened to him mattered.

“No. He’d never go for you like that,” Darwin said, looking over the boy’s body, at his scars and welts and bruises, badly healed nose and his shaking hand. “We have something else in mind. Nobody…” Darwin paused, making a face at the boy. “Nobody’s buying you again. Nobody’s hurting you again. After Theodore’s dead I’ll free you myself.”

The boy looked at him. Darwin’s eyes were hard. He looked away, nodded. He wasn’t sure that meant anything to him. 

Darwin didn’t say anything else the rest of the way to wherever they were going. After a while, the cart came to a stop and he pushed open the door, got out and motioned for the boy to follow him. “Come on.” They were in another courtyard, smaller than the one at the other house, the sound of the city a little more distant. Darwin led the boy through it, into the house. “The bath is down that way, take as long as you want and I’ll call for lunch when…”

“Greg?”

The boy looked up from the polished wood of the floor, up the staircase to the second level to the person standing at the top of the steps. Stocky, square, with long fingers.

“Roderick.” The boy remembered his name with ease, none of the fog that was stopping him from remembering his own in the way. He had gained weight, moved with a strange softness that the boy didn’t remember. 

“Oh, my God,” Roderick hurried down the stairs, towards them, and the boy took a hesitant step forward. Darwin moved out of their way, and they hugged, Roderick’s strong arms surrounding the boy. 

They’d never been the best of friends, but seeing someone familiar cracked something in the boy, cracked something that had been holding him back from remembering how to be…Greg. That was what his name had been. Greg. “You’re okay,” Greg muttered, closing his eyes against tears as he came back, as he realized that it was okay for him to start coming back. 

“Yeah. God, you look awful. What did they do to you?”

Greg shook his head. “Just what people do to slaves.” He looked over at Darwin. “Greg. My name’s Greg.”

“Right. Sorry. I shouldn’t have forgotten,” Darwin said. He didn’t seem like he could quite look at them. 

“Are you…bringing the others?” Greg asked. “All of us?” If Daniel had messed up, that left Pascal and Bradley. And Denver, if they’d ever found him. 

But Darwin’s expression gave him his answer. “Pascal killed his owner a while ago and got caught. They executed him. We…we don’t know where the other kid…”

“Bradley,” Roderick supplied. 

“Yeah, that’s it. Bradley. We don’t know where he is.”

Greg blinked, mind working slowly. He felt like he’d used to think faster than this, but thinking at all was something he’d grown unused to. “Chance said you’d be keeping an eye on us.”

“Chance was a fucking liar. He didn’t know where any of you were. Bradley was sold as a bedslave to a noble on the northern coast, but it looks like he’s not there anymore. I think he got sold again, maybe as a labourer.” Darwin’s expression was grim. “If that’s what it is, there’s a good chance he’s either dead or in a cave somewhere. It’s just going to be you two.”

Still holding each other, Greg and Roderick shared a look. “Were you telling the truth?” Greg asked, feeling like at least some of himself was coming back. Parts, not always connected. 

“I don’t know, when?”

“When you said you’d free us. You weren’t telling the truth last time.”

“I am this time,” Darwin promised. Greg wasn’t sure he believed him. “Kill Theodore, and you’ll be free. Simple as that.”

Greg nodded, looking down. He couldn’t remember what freedom was. He didn’t know what that meant.

But it might mean he didn’t have to hurt anymore. So Greg nodded. “Okay. Let’s do it.”


	32. Some Things Are Worth Any Possible Price

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So something I want to make clear (which gets mentioned in the chapter here as well) is that the previous chapter took place a month prior to the events of chapter 30. This chapter is more or less caught up with the current timeline, give or take a week.

Darwin hadn’t told them they had to spend time practicing. He hadn’t told them they had to spend time doing anything other than recovering. But Roderick wanted to move and Greg didn’t remember how to be idle, so they practiced, fighting each other with blunted knives and blunted skills that Greg was worried weren’t going to come back. 

It didn’t matter. He didn’t need to have a lot of skill to stick a knife in someone’s stomach. Greg had never been the best at fighting anyway out of their group, and neither had Roderick. That had been Bradley, who’d had the strength and the speed to back up the skills they were being taught. Followed closely by Daniel, who Greg remembered taking to their training much more readily than any of them who’d survived.

Roderick knocked Greg’s arm aside, lunging at him. Greg turned to the side, letting Roderick’s arm pass in front of him, using both his to lock it in place, his knife at Roderick’s throat. “Damn it,” Roderick muttered.

Greg let him go, stepping back. “You can’t win them all.” In the time they’d been here—Roderick thought it had been about a month—they were about even. Greg had been too weak to hold a knife properly the first little while, and he’d lost every bout until he got his strength back enough to stand up to Roderick. He won more often than he lost now that he was gaining weight faster than Roderick was losing it. 

Roderick had been bought as a bedslave by a married couple who’d both liked the look of him. He’d told Greg that his enslavement hadn’t been that bad, that all he’d had to do was eat and sleep and have sex, which was how he’d managed to get fat while Greg was getting skinny, but Greg had seen the haunted look in his eyes as he’d laughed it off. And he hadn’t asked, because even though part of him knew that what had happened to Roderick was awful, another part of him couldn’t help but whisper that he’d have traded places with him in a heartbeat. And another part of him was too afraid to find out what exactly had given Roderick that haunted look.

Another, much bigger part of Greg just knew the consequences of asking questions. 

“You want to go again?” Roderick asked, stretching. 

Greg nodded, stepping back. He was tired, but not tired enough to stop. 

They raised their knives again, and the door to their training room—a dining room empty of furniture—opened, admitting Darwin. “Guys,” he said. “I need to talk to you.”

The boy dropped—no. No, he reminded himself. Greg, he was Greg. Greg dropped his arms, turned to look at Darwin. Darwin’s chest, anyway. “We’re listening.”

“Yeah.” Darwin never looked at the two of them for long. Greg remembered him being a lot colder before. “Someone tried to kill Theodore in his house not long ago. I just found out.”

“Is he dead?” Roderick asked, sounding hopeful. 

Greg wasn’t hopeful. He was just worried. If someone else killed Theodore before they could get there, then what would that mean for them? For their freedom? 

“Not from what I hear,” Darwin said, letting out a heavy sigh. “I sent him a message and he wrote back and just told me he wasn’t having visitors at the moment. Someone sent guys from the Jerang Guild over. You guys remember what I taught you about them?”

“They work in groups of five,” Greg said, remembering the flower insignia. “They usually…take members from retired mercenaries and…” Greg trailed off, feeling like he was talking too much. “Sorry,” he whispered.

He tried not to flinch visibly when Roderick put his hand on the small of Greg’s back, feeling the fabric press against him. He was still unused to wearing clothes. “They’re who you hire if you want violence, not subtlety,” Roderick finished. “That’s what you said.”

“Yeah. Five of them went into Theodore’s place. Five of them came out, but not alive.”

Greg’s arms came up, and he hugged himself a little. Roderick’s hand stayed on his back. “Daniel,” Greg said, barely audible.

“Theodore’s security isn’t good enough for that, so yeah, that’s my guess.” Darwin let out a sigh. “I thought he’d just missed his chance—Theodore replaced him with another slave, so I figured….” He shook his head. “But it looks like he’s decided to switch sides instead.” 

Greg nodded, feeling himself tense all over as the meaning of that came to him. “We have to kill him too.”

Daniel was better with a knife than either of them. And he wasn’t out of practice, by the sounds of it.

“Yeah.” Darwin sighed again. “I’ll do it. I’m not sending you guys in alone. You two will handle Theodore, and I’ll keep Daniel busy.” 

Greg and Roderick just nodded. 

“I’m going to work out a plan of attack, but we’ll be going soon. You two should keep practicing. Theodore does have some house security, even if it’s useless. You need to be ready.” And with one last long look at them, Darwin turned and left. 

Greg dropped his arms, the dull blade falling uselessly to his side. He tried to stop his left hand shaking, couldn’t. 

“You okay?” Roderick asked. He asked Greg that almost every day. 

“I don’t understand,” Greg whispered. “Why Daniel would do that.” 

“Because that’s the kind of guy he is,” Roderick said, looking away.

“I don’t understand,” Greg repeated. He didn’t understand who could train with them, learn what they’d learned, do what they’d done, be sold to someone like Theodore, someone who was going to hurt him, and then help that person. Greg didn’t get it. 

“Darwin always liked Daniel,” Roderick said. “Remember that?”

“Yeah.” Darwin had insulted Daniel just slightly less than the rest of them.

“And so did Ursula. Chance never did, and you know why?”

Greg shook his head. 

“Because as soon as he met Darwin, Daniel knew Chance wasn’t really in charge. So he made sure Darwin liked him. And he made sure Ursula liked him. He was never interested in any of us liking him.”

Greg frowned. “He was nice…”

“He was friendly with us. With me and Bradley and you. Because he knew we’d protect him if he needed it.” Roderick sighed. “I used to know kids like him. Daniel’s the kid who finds the strongest guy in the neighbourhood and follows him around to do whatever he wants. He does whatever he has to do to make sure that whoever’s in charge likes him. He was little and he wasn’t stupid. He would have gotten into the habit when he was young. And so when he got to Theodore’s place, I bet that right away he started doing the same thing. He’s a coward, and he’s only loyal to whoever’s in front of him. When we show up, I bet he’ll turn around and stab Theodore for us.”

“You sound really sure.”

“I used to know kids like him.” Roderick shrugged. “He’ll go where the power is.”

“I mean…it’s been a long time since you’ve seen him.”

“Yeah. I mean, I’m just guessing, and all.” Roderick smiled. “Don’t listen too hard to me. You were the smart one.”

“Yeah.” Greg wasn’t the smart one anymore. Greg wasn’t always Greg anymore. “I hope you’re right, though. It…would mean we don’t have to kill him.”

“I guess.” Roderick said, dropping down to stretch his legs. “If we have to, though. Will you?”

“Yes,” Greg said, without hesitation. 

“Me too.” Roderick was looking at the floor. 

Greg just nodded, moving into his own stretches. He’d liked Daniel, and Daniel hadn’t deserved what had happened to him any more than any of them had. 

But if Daniel was what was going to stand between them and freedom, then Daniel was going to die.


	33. The Lack of Feeling Makes Some Things Harder and Others Easier

“You should eat more.”

Greg nodded, but he didn’t reach to put more food on his plate. “I’m okay.”

He wasn’t starving.

“Greg.”

He smiled at Roderick. “I’m okay. You should eat more.”

Roderick looked away. “I’m fine. I’m not that hungry.”

He’d eaten even less than Greg had.

Greg watched him for a second, sitting there quietly. Neither of them spoke, and the silence to which they were both accustomed filled the room, suffocative as usual. 

Greg laughed. He couldn’t help it; it bubbled up inside him, boiling past his throat and into his mouth and escaping into the air, and he couldn’t stop. He wanted to, he knew he should, but he also knew nobody would stop him. So he laughed. 

“What’s so funny?” Roderick demanded.

“I don’t…” Greg chuckled, shaking his head as he tried to get himself under control. “I don’t know. I just…” He shook his head again. “What the hell happened to us?”

His laughter faded, and it was replaced with something else, tears starting to track down Greg’s cheeks. “What the hell happened to us?” he whispered.

“I don’t know,” Roderick said with a sigh, pushing his chair back. He stood up, started to the door of the dining room. “I’m going to go for a run. Want to come?”

Greg nodded, though he didn’t. He didn’t stand. “Roderick?”

“What?”

“Do you think we’re ever going to stop?”

“Stop what?”

“I don’t know,” Greg muttered, pushing his own chair back, stomach rumbling a little. He wished he’d eaten more. He wished he felt like he was allowed to eat more. He knew that he was, but knowing and feeling weren’t the same thing. 

“Well…”

Roderick was cut off by the door to the room pushing open. Darwin stopped short on seeing him standing, on seeing Greg half out of his own chair. He looked ashen. Something was bothering him. Greg had never remembered Darwin being so emotional when they were training. Maybe Greg had just gotten better at reading people’s emotions. “We…” he trailed off. 

They both looked at him, waiting. 

“I need you both to come downstairs,” he said, swallowing. “We’re going to Theodore’s house in three days.”

That got Greg’s attention if Darwin hadn’t had it already. He stood up to follow after him, glancing at Roderick as they went. 

“I’ve given up trying to get an invitation,” Darwin said as he led them down the hallway. “We’re just going to go. I…” he sighed. “I heard something, a rumour. I’m pretty sure it’s true.”

“What?” Roderick asked. 

“The attack on his house. The five assassins who died. I tracked down one of his servants in a tavern and chatted him up for a while. I was right. One of Theodore’s slaves killed them all, the assassins.”

“Daniel,” Greg said. They knew this already. 

“Yeah, but…” Another sigh. Whatever it was, Darwin didn’t want to say it. 

“Darwin?” Roderick asked, when he didn’t finish.

“The slave died too,” Darwin said quietly. “That’s why Theodore won’t see anyone. Daniel died protecting him. Can you…and no, I don’t have the fucking slightest what he was thinking.”

Greg rubbed his arms, feeling a chill. Roderick looked a bit green. Suddenly Greg was glad neither of them had eaten more. “Daniel’s dead?” Roderick asked, voice distant.

“Yeah. So…that makes our job easier by a mile.” 

“Yeah,” Greg agreed, thinking about Daniel and trying, trying to feel…anything. Trying to summon that emotion that had taken him over at the table. Trying. 

And he couldn’t. 

Daniel was dead, and Greg didn’t know how to care. 

“I need to make you guys do something shitty,” Darwin said as they headed down the stairs. Greg had never been down here. There was a locked door at the bottom, and when they got there, Darwin fished out a key, fitted it into the lock. 

“What?” Roderick asked, wary.

Greg would do it, whatever it was. It wasn’t like they had a choice. 

“I need you to kill someone.” Darwin unlocked the door, but didn’t open it. “Now, I mean. I can’t…” he sighed. “I can’t have either of you choking when we get to Theodore. I need to know you can kill and not freak out until at least a few minutes after.”

“We can,” Roderick said. Greg agreed. After everything that had happened to them, how hard was it going to be to stab someone?

“Everyone thinks that. I need to know.” Darwin pushed the door open, stepped inside, waving a hand to light some lamps on the walls. Greg privately wondered why, if he was a wizard, he’d never told them that before he’d brought them here. And why he needed help to kill Theodore. 

In the centre of the room was a chair, with a man bound, a sack over his head. Darwin picked up two knives from a table and handed them to Greg and Roderick. “Kill him.”

Greg looked at the knife, and then at the man. He raised it, taking a step forward. Roderick was slower. “Who is he?”

“Doesn’t matter.”

The man was struggling against the rope that bound him to the chair, making noise in a way that suggested he was gagged. He was a big guy, muscular and tall. But the rope was thick, the knots were strong and the chair was sturdy. Greg stood in front of him, raised his knife. And then he didn’t move, unsure.

Roderick joined him, but his blade wasn’t up. Greg looked at him. 

He wasn’t going to do it, Greg could see. One of them had to. 

One of them had to.

So Greg did, and it was easy. He just…stabbed, like he’d been shown, and put the knife between the man’s ribs. 

And he wanted to feel something, and he didn’t. 

The man cried out behind his gag, behind the sack over his head, and he struggled. Greg had missed a little, not hitting him right in the heart. Part of him wanted to try again. But he couldn’t move. 

He just stood there and watched the man writhe, waiting to feel. 

Darwin sighed, patted Greg on the shoulder. Greg flinched, moving closer to Roderick. Then Darwin looked at Roderick. “Come on. Finish him off.”

“I…”

Darwin came around, behind the bound man, and he reached up, pulled the sack off his head. 

It was Chance in the chair, red-faced, veins bulging in his forehead as he tried to escape. Greg gasped, taking a step back. 

“Oh, my God…” Roderick sounded sick again, raising the knife as if to defend himself. 

“This is his fault,” Darwin told him. “He was supposed to come rescue all of you and he didn’t. He was supposed to keep you all safe and he didn’t. None of this should have happened to either of you.” 

Both of them turned their gazes to Darwin. Greg’s eyes were wide, he was shaking. He wanted his knife back. “He’s the one who ruined us,” Greg whispered.

He wanted his knife back. So he reached out and took it, Chance’s shout sending something through him. 

Hand shaking, Greg held his blade up to stab him again. 

Roderick’s hand flashed, and he struck out with the knife, opening up Chance’s throat in a spray of blood that splattered them both. With a little cry, Greg stabbed down again. He didn’t miss this time. 

They stood there together, watching Chance die. When he was, Darwin looked away. “Most people throw up after their first time. There’s a bucket in the corner.”

Greg nodded vaguely, feeling like he was on fire. He hand was shaking so much. “Do you think we’re ever going to stop?” he whispered to Roderick.

“Stop what?” 

“Hating ourselves.”

Roderick looked at the bloody, soiled corpse of the man who’d taken their lives away, and he shook his head. “No.”

“Me either,” Greg said, and he went over to go throw up in the bucket. 

At least he was feeling something.


	34. Broken People are Never Quite Made Whole, It’s All about Navigating the Cracks

Greg couldn’t sleep.

That was unusual for him. He’d been trained to pass out the moment he lay down, sheer exhaustion not letting him be insomniac. He was used to getting woken up before dawn, working until well after sunset, and stumbling under a blanket for what little sleep he could get before being woken up again.

That didn’t happen anymore, though Greg still woke up before dawn most days. And he never had trouble sleeping, except when nightmares woke him up.

But tonight he couldn’t sleep. And he knew why. Tomorrow they were going to kill Theodore. And Greg was nervous. Not about the killing, but about what it would mean.

Because afterwards, he’d be free, and that meant he could do whatever he wanted. Go wherever he wanted. And that was terrifying. Would he go home, to the mother who’d sold her bastard son into slavery to get rid of him when her husband had started to guess that he wasn’t Greg’s father? No, Greg wasn’t going to go north. And he wasn’t going to stay in Merket. 

But he didn’t know where to go. He didn’t know what he wanted. He didn’t know how to want things.

And it scared him. 

So he lay there, staring up at the ceiling in the dim moonlight, worrying. 

“Stop thinking so hard,” Roderick muttered beside him, rolling over to face Greg. 

“Sorry,” Greg whispered. “I didn’t know you were awake.”

“Can’t sleep.”

“Me either.”

“You scared?” Roderick asked. “Of tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” Greg admitted, though he wondered if he was answering what Roderick was asking him.

“I’m not,” Roderick told him, reaching out and patting Greg’s shoulder. “It’ll be fine.”

Greg nodded. “You’re just saying that to make me feel better, right?’

Roderick sighed. “Yeah. Did it work?”

“Yeah.” Greg nodded in the dark, feeling a little weird. “Yeah, it did.”

“You don’t have to lie,” Roderick said, voice quieter. “You don’t have to worry about my feelings.”

“You’re worrying about mine,” Greg told him. “And I wasn’t. It makes me feel better to know that you care. Nobody’s…nobody’s cared about me in a really long time.”

Possibly ever.

“Come here,” Roderick said with a sigh, pulling Greg in without waiting for an answer. Greg scooted over, until they were cuddled up together. It was nice. It was a nice touch. Gentle. Roderick wasn’t wearing a shirt, but Greg was, so they hardly had any skin touching. It was nice. “I care about you, okay?”

“I know,” Greg whispered, putting his arm around Roderick’s middle. “I care about you too.” 

“We’ve got to look out for each other,” Roderick muttered, breathing on Greg’s forehead. “We’re all we’ve got left.”

Greg nodded. “I know. Don’t die tomorrow.”

“You either.” Roderick held him quietly for a minute. “When we’re free, what are you going to do?”

“I…don’t know,” Greg muttered, shaking his head. 

“Me either, but…I’m going to go far away, somewhere. Real far. I don’t know where. Across the ocean, maybe. Or maybe all the way down south.”

Greg nodded along. “That sounds nice.”

“Do you want to come with me?”

The question hit Greg hard, and he was quiet for a minute. Did he want to come? Did he want? Greg didn’t know. He wasn’t sure what the answer to that was supposed to be. 

“You don’t have to,” Roderick said, when Greg didn’t answer after a minute. “Just…thought I’d ask.” He sounded a little put out.

Greg hugged him tighter. “I’d like that,” he whispered, not sure if he would. “Thank you.”

“I just don’t think that either of us…can really be by ourselves,” Roderick said. “I don’t know if we’d be able to do it.”

“Probably not,” Greg agreed, thinking about that now. He hadn’t been on his own…ever. Without someone to tell him what to do, where to go. Without…anyone. It was a frightening prospect, and he suspected Roderick felt the same. 

“But if we’re together…we’ll be okay.”

“Yeah.”

They lay there for a while longer, not sleeping. Roderick shifted a little, and suddenly he was…pressing against Greg’s belly. 

“Uh…sorry,” Roderick muttered, trying to move away. 

“It’s okay.”

“It’s just…you know. Happens.”

“Yeah.” Greg knew that. It happened to him too, rarely. “Do you want me to…” his hand drifted down a bit.

“No,” Roderick said, more firmly than Greg had expected. “No.”

“R-right…” Greg swallowed a little. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be! I just…” Roderick cleared his throat, embarrassed at the volume, perhaps. “I just, I’m allowed to say no again. It’s nothing to do with you. Or anything.”

“Yeah.” Greg got it. He was allowed to say no again too. And if their positions had been reversed, he’d have wanted to and probably wouldn’t have. He’d have been too afraid. “I know. I…didn’t really want to. I just thought I’d…offer.”

“Don’t feel like you have to…”

“I know. I know that I don’t,” Greg said. “I do. But I…haven’t gotten all the way there yet.” Part of him was still living in the space where not offering might have gotten him hit. It was hard. It was hard, knowing one thing and living another. Being Greg but also still being the boy. It was hard. That was all. 

“Yeah. Well…” Roderick shifted again. “Until you’re all the way there, I’m going to say no if you offer again. I don’t want you doing something for me that you think you have to.”

Greg was quiet for a minute, just laying there with Roderick against him. He was warm, and it was nice. “Thank you,” he said after a bit. “For saying no. I…would have done it if you’d asked.”

“I know. I…” Roderick sighed. “I’d do it for you if you asked too. And I wouldn’t want to either.”

“I won’t ask,” Greg promised. “Do you want me to move, so that you can…”

“No, I’ll be fine,” Roderick told him. “It’ll go away.”

“Okay.” Greg settled in, letting himself get comfortable. “This is nice.”

“Yeah. If you don’t like it you don’t have to…”

“I like it,” Greg interrupted. He did. He was pretty sure he did.

“Just I know you don’t like when I touch you.”

Greg shook his head a little. “I’m just not used to people touching me for good reasons, that’s all.”

“Me either.” 

“Hey, Roderick?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m not scared anymore.” He wasn’t, not really. Greg still didn’t know what was going to happen, what he was going to do. But at least he wasn’t going to be alone doing it.

Roderick nodded, yawning. “Yeah. Me either. Try to go to sleep?”

“You too.”

“Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” Greg said, closing his eyes. 

Quickly this time, they fell asleep like that. Holding each other in place.


End file.
